Head Shot

by Burl Barer

  The supreme court’s ruling was perhaps more a victory for the American Constitution than for Christopher St. Pierre. His conviction and life sentence for the murder of Damon Wells remained irrevocable. So did the heart condition with which he was born and the multiple sclerosis that revealed itself during his incarceration.

  When the latter disease became increasingly manifest, Carmella and George St. Pierre retained attorney David Zuckerman on their son’s behalf. “Chris has heart problems, and he also has multiple sclerosis,” confirmed Zuckerman. “That’s part of the reason that the family is so eager to litigate these issues over his precise release date, because, you know, they want him to get out while he can still walk.”

  By the time Zuckerman began representing Christopher St. Pierre, any attacks on the convictions had run their course. “We’re looking into the legitimacy of the sentence that the parole board gave him. You see, there are certain things that are unique to Chris’s case and certain things that are common to everyone under parole jurisdiction. Back when Chris was convicted, everyone convicted of a felony murder—if they had been good—got a parole hearing after thirteen years and four months. Then, in 1989, they changed the rules on everybody. We don’t have a parole system anymore. We have determinate sentences, which I think is a much ... a far superior system to the parole system, that everyone gets a definite sentence based on certain tables and guidelines. So then the question is: what do we do with guys like Chris St. Pierre who committed their crimes back at the time when we had a parole system?”

  According to David Zuckerman, they gave them the worst of all worlds. “The minimum term gets recalculated under the sentencing reformat. It is much, much longer than thirteen years four months for almost everybody, and then you still don’t get out. When you’ve done that lengthier term, you’re still just a parole prisoner at the whim of the board. Even after you’ve done this lengthy minimum term, the board can still keep you in prison.”

  This controversial policy of indeterminate incarceration was taken to the state supreme court and was upheld 5 to 4. Then it went to federal court, and the federal court judge threw it out. “But then it went up to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and two out of three of the judges on that panel upheld it.” Christopher St. Pierre’s sentence remained indefinite, indeterminate, and subject to extension, termination, or neither.

  While in prison, Christopher St. Pierre drafted a letter of apology to the family of Damon Wells. Forbidden to contact the Wells family directly, he asked David Zuckerman to track down the victim’s mother and/or siblings. Zuckerman’s efforts also were to no avail. The undelivered letter written by Christopher St. Pierre on November 15, 1998, reads as follows:

  I want to begin this letter by first saying how sincerely sorry I am for my actions that contributed to your son’s death. There hasn’t been a day in my life since that evening, nearly fifteen years ago, that I haven’t thought about it, regretted it, and wished that none of it had ever happened. I often look back and try to understand how the events of that evening escalated to the point where Damon was killed.

  I am not attempting to excuse my actions or the role I played in this senseless crime, but I swear I honestly never expected or intended this to occur. Still I know that is probably little or no consolation to you. How can it be, compared to the enormity of the pain, anguish, suffering and loss I have caused you and your family? I realize that this changed the course of your life and that of your family life forever. Again, I am so sorry for this and would do anything I could if it were possible to change it.

  You’re probably wondering why I’m writing and expressing this now. Well, I talked with and listened to a woman whose daughter had been murdered, and the man responsible had never apologized. This further compounded the trauma and suffering because she wanted to at least hear the man say he was sorry and take responsibility. I know why I did a very similar thing to you and your family. At the time of my trial, I was thinking of nearly no one but myself. I was fixated on the plea-bargain the prosecutors made with Andrew Webb, who I saw as the worst offender. With some time to think things over in prison, my perspective changed. But I still said nothing because I could not even find words that could be adequate to reconcile or lessen the damage I have done to you, your family and my family as well. I know even now what I am saying is not enough to express the level of remorse, sorrow and shame I feel for what I did, but I feel that I should at least try.

  I am sending this to you through an attorney, who may use an investigator to try to find you. Both of them are under instructions not to reveal your address or phone number to me or my family. If you wish to respond to this letter you can do so through the attorney. Whether you respond with anger, hatred, outrage—or perhaps forgiveness—I’m willing to listen.

  Sincerely & respectfully,

  Christopher St. Pierre

  David Zuckerman expressed understandable amazement at Andrew Webb, and the unorthodox arrangement made with him by previous Pierce County prosecutor Bill Griffies. “Chris was actually the first one through the door, and most of the prosecutors that I’m used to dealing with will value that. If one defendant comes in and gives a complete confession, and fully cooperates before he even has a lawyer, and before he’s even pushing for any kind of deal for himself, that is something that typically they want to encourage and reward. It sends a message that “this is the way we want people to behave—this is what gets rewarded.

  “In this particular case,” elaborated Zuckerman, “they punished that behavior, and rewarded the guy—Andrew Webb—who wouldn’t say a word until his lawyer made some cushy deal for him. What kind of message does that send? It sends the message ‘Don’t tell the truth, don’t confess, don’t cooperate with the police, but make sure that you get everything you possibly can, and get it promised to you first before you say anything.’ ”

  John Ladenburg, Christopher St. Pierre’s former defense lawyer, issued an official statement concerning the Webb incident, and did so in his new capacity as Pierce County’s chief prosecutor. This admission of error was read aloud at a special hearing in the state capital in December 1999.

  “The purpose of that hearing,” said Anne Webb, “was to decide if Andrew could leave prison early, you know, for being so wonderful, spiritual, and reformed. My former father-in-law, Lowell Webb, gave a real impassioned plea, saying how much his son had changed since 1984.”

  “I see a wonderful change in a person, and it’s a pleasure to go and hear him talk,” Lowell Webb said to the clemency board. “I can understand why people who have been discipled by him have changed so drastically and have become better citizens because of that, and I believe he would be a greater blessing on the outside than he is on the inside.”

  Andrew Webb, according to his father, was a beloved son with whom he was pleased. Lowell saw Andrew as one who transcended his former identity as cold-blooded killer and was now a fountain of spirituality. His son was a man whose love changed lives, redirected destinies, and showered spiritual blessings upon the discipled and undiscipled alike.

  From a more practical standpoint, Andrew Webb could help his father live out his final days in relative ease. “I’ve had surgery just recently myself,” said Lowell Webb, “and they found colon cancer, and it’s been quite a challenge here.”

  News of Lowell’s colon cancer was equally challenging for his children. “When Mom died,” said Gail, “I felt a sense of release for her. I was happy that she would find peace at last. The news about Dad being ill devastated me. I cried and cried more over his cancer than about Mom passing away.”

  “I have other children,” Lowell Webb told the clemency board, “but they have families, and it’s difficult for them to break away from their family and help. So that’s why I believe that Andrew would be so much greater benefit on the outside than he will be on the inside under the conditions that he would be a great asset to me.”

  Don Garrett, volunteer chaplain for fourteen years at the Washin
gton State Prison, also spoke on behalf of Andrew Webb. “I’ve known Andrew Webb only in prison,” he told the clemency board. “I don’t know anything about him before that. I can tell you I’ve never met a finer young man. I have sons that are older than he, and I wish that they were like him. I’ve watched this young man grow in those surroundings, terrible surroundings, but I’ve watched him grow to be a terrific young man. I could go on, and I could sit here for the next two days talking about Andrew Webb. You won’t find a finer young man. I would give him anything that I have. I would give him my checkbook, my car keys, and you name it. As I said, I don’t know what he did before, but I know what he is now. He’s a fine, upstanding young man with high integrity.”

  The most emotional and dramatic entreaty for clemency came from Pepper Black, Andrew Webb’s new girlfriend. “I’m very closely and intimately involved with Andrew,” she confessed. “He is a man of character and honor and integrity. Andrew murdered someone, he killed someone, and that’s a matter of record, and Andrew’s taken full responsibility for that. He’s never denied it. Andrew is reminded of what he did every single day of his life, and Andrew has paid for that. He’s paid fifteen years. He’s taken responsibility for this and he feels horrible about it. Andrew gave me my sanity back,” Black declared, but didn’t elaborate. “Andrew reaches past the walls of the prison and he impacts and influences people’s lives in a way that just amazes me. I realize that Damon’s family is here, and I know that they’re hurting, and I cannot imagine being where they are today. But I speak for Andrew in saying that an apology, and I’m sorry, will never take the pain away from them, will never remove that hurt, will never remove that loss, and it won’t bring Damon back. But who Andrew is and what he will do and who he’s become will make an incredible difference in honor of that.”

  The families of Damon Wells and John Achord remained unimpressed by Black’s unstinting praise for the marvelous character and personality of Andrew Webb. “God only knows what manner of nonsense Andrew fed her, what lies she’s swallowed, or what shallow duplicity she’s accepted as spiritual depth,” said Anne Webb. “What really amazed me more than poor Pepper Black falling for his crap was the Walla Walla prosecutor almost wetting his pants over what a fine chap this Andrew Webb had become.”

  Gabriel Acosta, the chief deputy prosecutor for Walla Walla County, spoke glowingly of the convicted killer. “He has done whatever he can within the system to make himself a better person. I understand that for the last several years the prison has been recommending that he be paroled, and that he’s rehabilitated. I have no hesitation as a prosecutor,” Acosta asserted, “in saying that he is a changed person from the murderer that he was. I don’t say this lightly because of my position.”

  When Acosta completed his heartfelt endorsement of clemency for Andrew Webb, Gerald Costello spoke. Costello, administrative assistant to the chief prosecutor of Pierce County, did not share fellow prosecutor Acosta’s rosy view of Webb’s character. Speaking boldly and authoritatively, Costello held nothing back. He revealed Webb’s numerous manipulations and deceptions, beginning with Nellie Sanford’s night of terror.

  “They caught him on the spot, retrieved the weapons, and he was facing trial,” explained Costello. “In January of 1984, before he killed Mr. Wells, he pled guilty to two counts of second-degree assault, and he was out on bond, and sentencing was put off until later in 1984. While out on bond, he murdered Mr. Wells. Then, on May eighteenth, he helped the St. Pierres dispose of John Achord’s body, who had just been murdered. On June twenty-first, he was arrested for murder, and he’s remained incarcerated ever since.”

  Costello then hit home his primary point: “He has never served any sentence. He has never been punished for the serious felony assaults that he committed in 1983.” It seemed as if his emphatic statement had difficulty penetrating the clemency board’s consciousness. He reiterated it several times until it gradually sank in. “He has escaped to this day any punishment for those felony assaults, and the story continues, of course. He strikes this plea bargain with the state of Washington. Now, bearing in mind, of course, that he was involved in two different homicides, and as the board is well aware, he strikes a plea bargain, and it was a mistake. I’m here to acknowledge publicly that it was a mistake for the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office to trust Mr. Webb to testify, and to give him the benefit of his bargain before he testified. It is a lesson that we have lived with to this day, and it is talked about in our office to this day. We will never do that again.”

  Costello reminded the board that Webb “violated his bargain, a solemn bargain with the state. Integrity has been discussed. It’s been said that Mr. Webb has great integrity, but he clearly did not. In the face of a court order that he testify, he ignored that court order and wouldn’t do it.

  “Mr. Webb was the beneficiary of his own manipulations and of the state’s stupidity,” said Costello, “and yet those who receive the detriment are the Achord family and the Wells family, and there’s never been justice for the Achord family at all. The jury convicted based on the written statement of Mr. Webb that was introduced into evidence. The supreme court reversed those convictions, and there will never be justice for the Achords, and I lay that at the feet of Mr. Webb.

  “The way that we see it in our office is that he has already received a significant, substantial amount of leniency based on charges not being pursued that could have been pursued, and based on his own manipulations in receiving that leniency. The state views it this way,” concluded Mr. Costello, “that to this day Mr. Webb has not suffered punishment for felony assault, which had been ordered by the court. Number two, he has received the benefit of his bargain, and the state has not, the people have not. Most importantly, no justice for Mr. Achord’s murder. To those who suggest that we should only focus on the present, on what kind of a person Mr. Webb is today, I say that Mr. Webb’s actions have resulted in a situation where justice will never, never be fully served. He should not receive clemency. He’s already received more benefit from the state of Washington than he was legally and morally entitled to receive.”

  Damon Wells’s brother Sean agreed completely with Costello. Speaking tremulously, Sean Wells bravely revealed his own pain, and that of his entire family. “In the last fifteen years, I’ve chosen not to deal with it,” he said. “I just buried all my feelings and my hurts, and when my mom told me that Andrew Webb was going up for a clemency hearing, I didn’t know what to do. And just to hear all the stuff that Webb has done, and to serve only thirteen years or fifteen years or even twenty years is not right. It just ain’t right!”

  Referring to Lowell Webb’s entreaty on behalf of his son, Wells said, “His father gets to see him three days a week. We don’t get to see Damon ever at all. I just hope that you guys just consider the Wellses and the Achords.” Sean Wells then held up Andrew Webb’s statements. “This is the first time I’ve got to look at this.... He tries to make my brother out to be a criminal! ‘Was the victim known to you?’ ‘I knew Damon indirectly. I had prior knowledge that he had burglarized my friend’s house.’ That ain’t right! That ain’t right! Here he’s turning everything around. And it says here on his letter asking for clemency: ‘I was denied parole for no reason.’ No reason? He killed my brother! They talk about how good he is. The chaplain says he gets to watch him grow. Well, my mom and dad watched Damon grow until he was twenty years old. That’s it. He also said that he doesn’t know a finer young man,” stated Sean Wells. “Well, you’re looking at a finer young man. In my opinion, I don’t think Andrew Webb should walk the face of the earth again as a free person, and breathe the same air as we breathe, or be around our children. I just ask you, please,” he begged in conclusion, “just don’t consider letting him out.”

  Brandon Wells also spoke, adding his plea to that of his brother. “I can’t see letting a murderer out, a vicious murderer. If he’s doing so good in there, and helping out in there, then maybe he should stay in there and conti
nue to do what he’s doing in there, because he’s not going to be doing no good out here.”

  Gail Webb agreed, although she didn’t share this opinion with the clemency board or her siblings. “If Andrew was doing so well in prison, and doing so much good for the Lord, then he was right where he was supposed to be. Let him stay there and do some good, because God only knows what Andrew would be doing on the outside.”

  The clemency hearing brought Gail back together with her sisters and brothers. It was there that she asked pointed personal questions concerning her siblings’ alleged incestuous relationships. “I questioned my younger sisters about Andrew or one of my other brothers doing things with them, and she confirmed it. Figures. I have one brother who, if you ask me, still has a problem with inappropriate touching of women, and another I bet would freely acknowledge being a sex addict. I hate to say it, but it’s true—despite our mother’s love and efforts to protect us, and not solely because of Dad’s beatings and hollering, we all grew up in a maelstrom of domestic violence and abuse. This is very ironic because our folks honestly loved us, and honestly loved the Lord. A lot of pain and misery came from the children drinking alcohol and taking other drugs, too. Andrew and I were once really close. We could communicate on a deep level on any topic. Then, when the beer became a lifestyle instead of an occasional beverage, and LSD didn’t mean Luke, Samuel, and David, then it was as if someone drilled a hole in his head, removed his common sense, then sucked the sense of shame right out of his heart.”