State v. Lord, 54385-2
| Citation | 117 Wn.2d 829,822 P.2d 177 |
| Decision Date | 05 December 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 54385-2,54385-2 |
| Parties | The STATE of Washington, Respondent, v. Brian Keith LORD, Appellant. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Washington |
Bertha B. Fitzer, Tacoma and Michael J. Trickey, Seattle, for appellant.
C. Danny Clem, Kitsap County Prosecutor, Irene K. Asai, and Pamela B. Loginsky, Deputy County Prosecutors, Port Orchard, for respondent.
On September 30, 1986, the half-clothed body of 16-year-old Tracy Parker was found by a horseback rider. She had been raped, murdered, and dumped in Brian Keith Lord was convicted by a jury in the Kitsap County Superior Court of aggravated first degree murder. The jury found that there were not sufficient mitigating circumstances to warrant leniency, and Lord was sentenced to death. He appealed directly to this court pursuant to the mandatory review provision of Washington's death penalty statute, RCW 10.95.100. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.
the brush by the side of a road. Tracy had been missing for more than 2 weeks before she was discovered
We begin with a brief statement of the State's theory of the case in order to provide a context in which to assess the complicated facts of this case. The State relied on well over 100 pieces of trace evidence to support its theory. According to the State, Tracy Parker (Tracy) encountered Brian Keith Lord (Lord) 1 at the house of a mutual acquaintance at approximately 8 p.m. on Tuesday, September 16, 1986. Tracy and Lord had known each other for approximately 3 years. She was late getting home and asked Lord for a ride. He tricked her into going to his brother's house after ensuring that no one was there. Once in his brother's workshop, Lord struck her from behind with a hammer, knocking her unconscious, and raped her. He then struck her repeatedly with the hammer, fracturing her skull, and inflicting an additional wound to her vagina. Lord then wrapped her dead body in a U-Haul blanket, put it in the back of his brother's blue pickup truck, and disposed of the body, the blanket, and the clothing at separate locations.
Lord immediately returned to his brother's house, where he hosed out the workshop and the back of the truck. The next morning he returned and continued to clean the shop and the truck. Later, Lord attempted to cover evidence of blood in the workshop by rubbing grease into the spot on the floor where Tracy's body had been.
Lord also offered bribes to friends and acquaintances to cover his actions. Lord denied that he had committed the crime
We now turn to the evidence which was presented to the jury. On September 16, 1986, 16-year-old Tracy Parker arrived home from school at approximately 3 p.m. She told her mother that she was going riding. Tracy had permission to ride horses belonging to Wayne and Sharon Frye whenever she wanted. The Fryes lived less than a mile away from Tracy and hidden keys provided access to the Fryes' house and equipment area. Tracy's mother told her to be home before dark, by 7 or 7:30 p.m., and then left for work.
No one was at the Frye residence when Sharon Frye left the house shortly before 6 p.m. or when she returned at approximately 8:20 or 8:30 p.m. She did notice the next day that the riding gear was in place.
At 7:15 p.m., Tracy rode to the house of a neighbor and stopped to talk for about 10 or 15 minutes. From 7:30 to 7:45 p.m., Tracy stopped to visit a friend who was babysitting at a nearby residence. As Tracy left, she said she had to "hurry and get home before her mom got home." She told her friend that she was going to "[t]ake the horse back to the Fryes' house and go straight home." At 8 p.m., Tracy called a friend, apparently from the Frye residence. Tracy was not home when her mother returned from work shortly after 9 p.m.
The defendant, Brian Keith Lord, had known the Fryes for 3 years. Lord is a carpenter and, during September 1986, he helped the Fryes remodel their house. He also had access to their house, and he knew where the keys were kept. Lord met Tracy through the Fryes and had spoken with her a number of times when she came to ride. Sometimes he gave Tracy a ride home, occasionally in a blue pickup truck owned by his brother, Kirk Lord.
Between 6:30 and 7 p.m. on September 16, Lord met with a contractor, Chris Rongve, in the Silverdale area to At 7:44 p.m., Lord made an 8-minute, long-distance call from the Fryes' house to his apartment to tell his girl friend that he would be late for dinner. He also called his brother's house. The State theorized that Lord made these calls to ensure that no one would be looking for him and that no one was at his brother's house.
discuss construction work. At that point, Lord was driving a Camaro that belonged to his girl friend, Debby Parker (no relation to Tracy Parker). Rongve observed that Lord was wearing an orange plaid shirt and either gray sweatpants or blue Levi's. Rongve also saw Lord take a drink from a large beer bottle. Lord left the meeting before 7:30 p.m. Although Lord was to meet with Rongve again the next day, Lord never appeared
That same evening, Don and Radwyn Carroll were also at Kirk Lord's house. They are the parents of Kirk's wife, Robin. Don had been hauling firewood to Kirk's house all day and was joined by his wife on the third trip. Kirk and Robin were out of town, and the Carrolls had been watching the house. The Carrolls arrived at Kirk's at approximately 4:30 p.m. Radwyn saw Lord driving out of Kirk's driveway just as they were approaching it. They did not stop and talk with him. During their visit, Radwyn looked in Kirk's workshop and noted that it looked clean. At that time, Kirk's blue pickup was parked in front of the garage.
After Don unloaded the firewood, the Carrolls left for dinner. They did not return to Kirk's house until approximately 8:30 p.m. When they returned, Debby Parker's Camaro was parked in front of the workshop and the blue pickup was gone. Don noticed a smoldering "burn pile" in the yard by the side of the house.
About 15 to 20 minutes after the Carrolls arrived, Lord drove up to the workshop in the blue pickup. He was driving "[p]retty fast" and the truck was "smoking and steaming." Lord was aware that the truck had a faulty head gasket and that he should not be driving the truck Don went into the house and watched Lord from the window. Lord, still without a shirt, began washing the blue pickup. Using a hose, he washed out the back of the pick-up, even though it was full of debris. He took a blanket from the back of the truck and threw it on the ground in an area where water was running from the hose. Don remembered that the blanket was beige or orange.
because it could ruin the engine. Even though it was only about 58 degrees, Lord was not wearing a shirt. 2
When Don went out to talk to Lord, Lord told Don he was building a stereo cabinet for Kirk and Robin. But when Don asked to see it and walked toward the workshop, Lord said, "No, I don't want you to see it yet, I want Kirk to be the first one to see it." Don agreed and did not enter the workshop that evening.
At approximately 9 p.m., Kirk and Robin arrived home. Don and Radwyn visited with Robin and Kirk inside the house. Lord did not enter the house, but he visited with Kirk in front of the workshop for several minutes. Kirk remembered Lord wearing gray pants and a shirt. Lord did not show Kirk any cabinet or table, and Kirk also did not enter the workshop that evening. When the Carrolls left at approximately 10:30 p.m., Lord was gone.
A dinner party had been planned for that night at Lord's house, and the guests had been waiting for him when he called at 7:44 p.m. Lord was to have brought a dining table that he was making for them to use that evening. When Lord had not appeared by 10 p.m., they ate without him.
Lord finally arrived home at approximately 10:15 p.m., wearing gray sweatpants and a plaid shirt. He stood in the doorway for a couple minutes, and then walked into the bathroom. Although the guests waited in the living room, some of them left at 10:30 p.m. when Lord had not The next morning, September 17, Tracy had not returned and her mother began making telephone inquiries. She also went to the Fryes' because it was the last place she knew Tracy had been. After speaking to Sharon Frye, Tracy's mother went home and called the sheriff's office to report Tracy missing. In addition to notifying the sheriff, a private investigator was called in, bloodhounds were used, and the family searched the area themselves. Tracy was not seen alive after September 16.
come out. When Lord finally appeared, he was acting unusual. Two guests noticed that Lord had a fresh wound on his arm. Lord told them he was late because he had been working, but he did not say where. He did not bring a table home
At 8 o'clock that morning, Lord arrived back at Kirk's house. Lord began cleaning the debris out of the blue pickup and putting it into his truck. There was about a foot of debris in the blue pickup. Lord then hosed out the remainder of the debris.
When Kirk looked into the workshop that morning, he noticed water puddles on the floor as if it had been washed out recently. A photo showed possible water stains on the bottom of all of the doors that had been stored in the workshop. Kirk said that the doors had not been water stained before he went to California.
Testimony was given by Robert Machinski, who had met Lord while doing construction work. According to Machinski, Lord had called him on September 15 to ask him to help burn scrap wood at Kirk's. Approximately 30 sections of old, green cedar fence panels were stacked in front of the garage door and Lord wanted to burn them. Lord told Machinski he had brought the scrap wood in the blue pickup, which was then parked at Kirk's. After they burned the lumber, they...
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