Philip Margolin: Capitol murder

Then there were the murders themselves. The Erickson case was indisputably a frame-up, so why not the rest? The killer’s victims had been abducted, then tortured in the most unspeakable ways for days on end. After meeting with Clarence for more than a year, Millie found it impossible to believe that he could do the horrible things of which he was accused. Spurred on by love and the knowledge that she was serving Justice by righting a great wrong, Millie had put together the best brief she had ever written, and everyone said she had been brilliant during the hearing. Clarence had brought out the best in her, and she was so certain she’d win that she had started fantasizing about further victories at Clarence’s retrials, ending with the star-crossed lovers united with no bars or bulletproof glass to keep them apart.

Millie lived in an old brick apartment house just off Twenty-third Street. It was a little pricey because of the location, but it was one of the few luxuries she allowed herself. The furniture was secondhand and the art on the walls was reproductions or posters. There was a dining area, but Millie rarely entertained, and she ate her meals at a table in the small kitchen. Tea and toast was all she could handle this morning, but she enjoyed reading the paper because the Oregonian had a special feature about Clarence’s case in the Metro section, and she was mentioned several times.

Millie had bought a new outfit for court and had gone to the beauty parlor to have her hair straightened to take out the frizz. After she applied her makeup, she rehearsed the speech she would make to the reporters after her victory, watching her facial expressions in her bathroom mirror to make sure they were just right. Then she dressed in a black business suit and sky blue silk shirt. She hoped she looked professional for the cameras, but more important was looking good for Clarence when she met with him at the penitentiary in the afternoon to tell him that he was one step closer to freedom.

T he Marion County Circuit Court heard all postconviction cases because the state penitentiary was in Salem, Oregon’s capital, and Salem was in Marion County. The Marion County courthouse, a dull white steel-and-glass building, was an example of fifties functional government architecture, and Judge Case’s courtroom was as sexy as a DMV office, but Millie couldn’t care less about her surroundings. The spectator section was packed with reporters and the curious, and every eye, including Millie’s, was focused on the overweight, gray-haired man in the black robe who was seated behind the bench.

“The issue before me is whether Clarence Little’s convictions for the murders of Winona Benford and Carol Poole must be reversed because evidence concerning the murder of Laurie Erickson was introduced by the prosecution at those trials,” Judge Case began.

“This is an extremely troubling matter. I would say that it is the most troubling case I have handled in thirty-two years on the bench. The person responsible for the murders of these innocent young women is no common criminal; he is a monster and deserves the most severe punishment the law permits. But our Constitution requires that all trials be fair, no matter who the defendant is, and my job is to study what happened in these two trials to make certain that they meet the requirements of the constitutions of Oregon and the United States.

“In my written opinion, I have set out in great detail the evidence in Mr. Little’s trials. There are great similarities in all of the crimes in the way these women were abducted, the method of torture, and of course, there is the signature removal of the victim’s pinkie in each case. Yet the state concedes that Mr. Little is unquestionably innocent of murdering Miss Erickson.

“Laurie Erickson’s case was one of the most highly publicized cases in recent history. Not only did it attract local interest, but it was reported nationally and internationally. Miss Erickson was abducted from the Governor’s Mansion while Christopher Farrington was the governor of this state. Mr. Little’s separate trials for the murders of Winona Benford, Carol Poole, and Miss Erickson took place while Mr. Farrington was the vice president of the United States.

“Mr. Little was prosecuted first for murdering Miss Benford and was convicted. He was then tried for killing Miss Poole. After he was convicted in that case, he was tried for the murder of Miss Erickson. Evidence from all three murders was introduced at each trial on the theory that the method used by the killer in all three murders was so similar that only one person could have committed all three crimes, something we now know may not be true.

“After a thorough reading of the record, I cannot in good conscience conclude that the evidence from the Erickson case that was introduced in Mr. Little’s other trials did not affect the verdicts in those trials. Therefore, I hold that the verdicts in those cases must be set aside and the cases must be remanded to the circuit courts in the counties that tried them for whatever action the district attorneys in those counties deem appropriate.

“I hold further that no evidence from the Erickson case may be introduced at any retrial of the remaining cases.”

Judge Case spoke for ten more minutes, but his words did not register. The moment the judge ruled for Clarence, Millie’s heart soared high above the courtroom and she lost focus. She’d won the most important case of her life. She was a success. The horde of reporters who bombarded her with questions as soon as court was adjourned reinforced her belief that her life had turned a corner.

M illie parked her car in the visitors’ lot at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Walls topped with razor wire and guarded by gun towers loomed above her as she walked down the lane that led from the lot to the prison’s front door. Millie had no time to contemplate her somber surroundings because more reporters rushed to interview her.

Millie made a brief statement, then went into the prison reception area. She was enjoying her fame, but she was relieved that she would not have to give any more interviews for a while. Millie told the guard at the reception desk that she was there to meet with her client, Clarence Little. Then she took a seat on a green prison-made couch and started reading Judge Case’s lengthy written opinion.

When the guard called Millie’s name, she went through the metal detector. Her heart beat faster as she walked down a ramp that ended at a set of steel bars. The guard signaled to another guard in a control room, and the bars rolled aside. Millie entered a holding area and waited until the first bars rolled back in place and a second set opened to admit her to a short hallway. Millie had visited Clarence several times and she knew the routine. Her escort led her down the hall and opened a thick metal door. She entered the visiting area, but instead of being taken into a large open room with couches, tables, and vending machines, where a number of prisoners played with their children or talked to loved ones, she was led to a second visiting area reserved for prisoners deemed too dangerous to be permitted into the open area. Windows made of bulletproof glass were set in two of the walls. Visitors sat on folding chairs and talked to the prisoner on a phone receiver fixed to the wall.

At the end were two rooms set aside for attorney-client visits with death-row inmates. The rooms were barely large enough to accommodate a bridge chair. The guard ushered Millie inside one of them. Her chair faced a glass window set in concrete blocks painted institutional brown. A slot for passing papers had been built into the bottom of the window, and a metal ledge just wide enough to accommodate a legal pad jutted out from the wall beneath the window.