The players: Case features veteran attorneys, voluminous paperwork

	Veronica Freitas
	E-mail this article Print this article Search archive

Veronica Freitas and Marc Stenchever, public defenders with the Society of Counsel Representing Accused Persons, were assigned to defend Atif Rafay after he got his previous lawyers dismissed last year.

Both courtroom veterans, Freitas and Stenchever said they have represented many other clients facing life in prison but neither has had to deal with a case as complex as this one.

Catching up with the voluminous paperwork — more than 40,000 documents are involved — was initially daunting. But it's been a job they both welcomed.

	Marc Stenchever

"It's been exciting," said Stenchever, a graduate of Seattle University School of Law. "There's not a lot of cases in the criminal realm that involve all the interesting aspects of this one."

"It's a little intimidating, but it's also a chance to do a good job on a challenging case," Freitas said.

The two get along well with their client. That's particularly true of Freitas, who is often at the defense table talking with Rafay during court hearings.

Stenchever, 44, a husband and father of three, is the son of a physician whose job took him around the country. Growing up, Stenchever lived in New York, Montana, Cleveland and Salt Lake City before moving to the Pacific Northwest.

He was drawn to law and to one of the area's public-defenders' offices because he thought it was a noble calling, although he jokes now that he was misinformed when he was told it was a profession that earned great respect.

Freitas, 40, who lives with her partner and her partner's 15-year-old son, also traveled a great deal growing up. Her father was in the Air Force, and she grew up in Germany and Portland.

She became a lawyer, she says, because she knows what it's like to be on the wrong side of the law.

"I was always getting into trouble when I was younger, and I wanted to be able to help people who are powerless," said Freitas, a graduate of Lewis & Clark Law School. She also has a master's degree in tax law from the University of Washington.

Burns' defense team

The attorneys representing Sebastian Burns in the deaths of the Rafay family bring Ivy League degrees to the case.

	Jeff Robinson

Jeff Robinson, 46, is a graduate of Harvard Law School; Song Richardson, 37, is a graduate of Yale Law School.

Robinson, whom the King County Bar Association named lawyer of the year for 2003, is one of the highest profile defense lawyers in Seattle. Most recently he defended state Supreme Court Justice Bobbe Bridge, who was arrested for drunken driving.

In years past, he represented the woman who accused former U.S. Sen. Brock Adams of drugging and sexually abusing her. He also represented the families of two slain Seattle cannery workers in a lawsuit that resulted in a $15 million settlement for the families.

Richardson moved to Seattle after she fell in love with the city while driving through on her way to Alaska one year.

"Of course, it was summer," she said.

	Song Richardson

She worked for the federal public-defender's office and then the state public-defender's office before being offered a job at Schroeter, Goldmark and Bender law firm and a chance to work with Robinson.

In the three years the two have worked together they've won numerous cases, including acquittals for a man accused of three federal counts of armed robbery and for a woman accused of first-degree attempted murder.

The two took over the defense of Sebastian Burns last year after one of his public defenders was accused of having sex with him, and Superior Court Judge Charles Mertel removed the attorney.

Like the other lawyers involved, Robinson and Richardson said the information on the case is voluminous.

"It's like nothing I have ever worked on before," Richardson said. "There is so much complicated information about this case that the real fear I have is that there is too much information for the jury to digest."

The prosecutors

	James Konat, left, and Roger Davidheiser

King County Deputy Prosecutors James Konat and Roger Davidheiser are considered one of the most successful prosecutorial teams in the county.

Together they've handled several high-profile cases and the two men, who are friends, are considered a near ideal pairing. Both are talented, colleagues said. As one said: "It's a rare case of the sum being greater than the parts. They're great together."

Both men are drawn to the law-and-order side of their profession and say they have found a home in the prosecutor's office.

Konat, 45, a graduate of Creighton University School of Law in Nebraska, says he spent 26 "miserable" months as a public defender. He opposes a system that he says rewards a criminal for trying to avoid punishment.

Numerous times in his years with the King County Prosecutor's Office, he said, he has given someone the chance to admit to the crime.

"The system is predicated on the whim of the defendant," said Konat, the son of a dentist and a nurse. "Defense attorneys tell people not to talk, and there is no incentive to accept responsibility."

Konat, who is divorced and lives alone, tends to brings confidence and panache to the table. Davidheiser, a husband and father of three, brings sharp legal wits and enthusiasm.

Davidheiser, 42, is a graduate of New York University Law School.

They work together well, colleagues said, because they have similar straight-forward styles.

In 1998, they won a double-homicide conviction against Gary Ackley for killing the mother of his longtime girlfriend and another woman, a childhood friend to whom he'd confessed the first killing.

In addition, the two are prosecuting a case against Leemah Carneh, who's accused of killing four people in Des Moines in 2001.

The judge

	King County Superior Court Judge Charles Mertel

Walking into the courtroom of King County Superior Court Judge Charles Mertel is almost like walking into a cocktail party, say some lawyers who have known the affable judge for years.

It often seems that the bow-tie-wearing judge is on the verge of a comedic monologue as he calls out "Hello" or "Good morning" or "Come right in."

"His voice reminds me of Johnny Carson's," said a denizen of Mertel's courtroom. "I keep expecting him to start telling jokes."

Despite his breezy jocularity, Mertel, 68, who was appointed and then elected to the bench in 1992, has a reputation as a serious and thoughtful jurist.

Attorneys with the King County Bar Association have consistently given the former UW tennis star and coach high ratings in judicial demeanor and overall efficiency.

Mertel won praise for courage from defense attorneys three years ago when he defied the state's standard-sentencing recommendations and gave a 16-year-sentence to one of three men accused of murdering a homeless man.

Mertel thought it was unfair that the other defendants, including the one who had been named as the group's ringleader, had gotten lower sentences than the 22 years facing Shelton Musgrave because they had pleaded guilty rather than face trial.

The state Court of Appeals this year sent the case back to Mertel, who resentenced Musgrave within the guidelines, although he said he still thought what he had done in the first place was right.

Mertel, who has two grown sons and is an avid fisherman and backpacker, attended the UW as an undergraduate and graduated from Duke Law School.

He said the state's case against Rafay and Burns is the most complicated he has seen in his years on the bench.

— Reporting by Christine Clarridge

Photos by Mike Siegel

Seattle Times staff

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company