Trial begins for man accused of killing boys

The trial began yesterday in King County Superior Court for a man accused of using a hammer and knife to kill two boys and gravely injure their mother in a South Seattle home two years ago.

Herbert Riggins, 48, who is charged with two counts of aggravated first-degree murder and attempted murder, was unconscious and in a drug-induced coma when police were called to the tiny apartment of his ex-girlfriend on Jan. 21, 2003, court documents say.

In the apartment were the bodies of 13-year-old Jamare Johnson and 9-year-old David Rodriguez. Their mother, Kathy Johnson, with whom Riggins had a seven-year relationship, had been attacked and left for dead.

Defense attorney Jim Conroy did not argue that Riggins was not involved in what he called the "terrible" crime. Rather, he said that because Riggins has a low IQ and was high on cocaine, PCP, barbiturates and antidepressants, he was incapable of forming the "intent" to kill — a necessary element in a first-degree-murder conviction.

Johnson, now 51, had broken up with Riggins because he had alcohol and drug addictions and was planning to move to Massachusetts without him, Deputy Prosecutor Hugh Barber said in his opening statement. A week before the attacks, she had filed a restraining order against him.

But ties between Johnson and Riggins — who had cooked and cleaned for the family and been like a father to the boys — remained strong, Johnson's relatives said. So much so that Riggins was invited to join the extended family at a Seattle hospital on Jan. 20, 2003, to celebrate the birth of Johnson's second grandchild.

Johnson trusted Riggins that day to take her sons to her Renton Avenue South home and put them to bed; she stayed longer to visit with her daughter and new grandson.

At the home later that night, Riggins attacked Johnson with a hammer and a Buck knife as she slept, Barber said.

"He then turned his attention and his tools to Kathy's sons," Barber said.

The next day, after Johnson failed to answer the phone or pick up her daughter and grandchild as planned, police were asked to check on the family. That is when they found Riggins and the three victims.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com