Free Republic

In a 5-4 vote Thursday, the state Supreme Court of Washington rejected a lawsuit calling for the release of thousands of inmates to help stem the spread of the coronavirus, according to reports. Those narrowly missing a shot at freedom included Gary Ridgway, the so-called “Green River Killer,” who in 2003 was sentenced to life in prison after confessing to killing as many as 49 women in the 1980s, Seattle’s KIRO radio reported. A lawyer representing the inmates being considered for release – about two-thirds of the state’s prison population, according to KIRO – argued that those behind bars aren’t...

A lot of people were involved in filming “True Grit” in 1968 and ‘69. Now a lot of people are involved in celebrating the 50th anniversary of that occasion. Ridgway will be busting at the seams throughout this coming weekend, Oct. 11, 12 and 13. Bob Dejulio for the past 50 years has been remembered as the artist who transformed Ridgway into an 1873 Fort Smith, Arkansas. “That whole Main Street (South Lena), I lettered,” said DeJulio. “The biggest share of the buildings were originals with false fronts and signage. The courthouse was made especially for the production. I was...

SEATTLE - Legal experts say the plea bargain with the Green River Killer raises a thorny question: If the state of Washington is not going to execute someone who has confessed to murdering 48 people, how can it ever again put anyone to death? It is a question of simple fairness: Under state law, the Washington state Supreme Court is required to review every death sentence handed out, and must consider whether the sentence "is excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases, considering both the crime and the defendant." Some lawyers say a death sentence for someone...

Suspect Admits 48 Seattle-Area Killings (AP) Gary Ridgway in court on Wednesday November 5, 2003 in the King County Courthouse in Seattle... Full Image SEATTLE (AP) - Gary Ridgway, the former truck painter long suspected of being the Green River Killer, admitted in court Wednesday to 48 murders. "I killed so many women I have a hard time keeping them straight," he said in a confession read aloud by prosecutors. "I wanted to kill as many women as I thought were prostitutes as I possibly could," Ridgway said in the statement. Some relatives of victims wept quietly in the courtroom....

SEATTLE - The man suspected of being the Green River Killer has agreed to plead guilty next week to the murders of 48 women in a deal that would spare him from execution, two sources close to the case told The Associated Press. Gary Leon Ridgway, a 54-year-old truck painter arrested in the serial killer case in 2001, will admit to murdering 42 women on investigators' list of Green River Killer victims as well as six women not on the list, said the sources, who spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity. The numbers of killings he pleads to "could change...