2 will face death penalty in Carnation killings

Michele Anderson has said she hopes to be executed for the slaughter of six of her family members, including two young children, on Christmas Eve last year.

Now that she might get that chance, her lawyer says she no longer wants it.

King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg announced Thursday he will seek the death penalty against Anderson, 30, and her boyfriend, Joseph McEnroe, 29, in the shootings of Anderson's parents, her brother and his wife, and their two young children at the parents' home in Carnation last Dec. 24.

"Given the magnitude of these alleged crimes, the slaying of three generations of a family, and particularly the slaying of two young children, I find that there are not sufficient reasons to keep the death penalty from being considered by the juries that will ultimately hear these matters," Satterberg said in a written statement.

Prosecutors say Anderson and McEnroe gave detailed confessions when questioned by detectives, telling them that when they arrived at the home for a Christmas Eve celebration, McEnroe shot her father, Wayne, 60, in the head. Her mother, Judy, 61, rushed out from where she had been wrapping presents, and McEnroe killed her, too.

Prosecutors allege the pair hid the bodies, and when Anderson's brother Scott arrived with his wife, Erica, both 32, and their two children, 6-year-old Olivia and 3-year-old Nathan, Michele and McEnroe executed them, with McEnroe apologizing as he shot the children in the head.

Prosecutors have said Anderson told detectives her brother owed her money and that she was upset because her parents did not take her side. She also said her parents were pressuring her to start paying rent for staying in a mobile home on their property, they allege.

The defendants have pleaded not guilty, as is routine in potential capital cases, but Anderson told Seattle newspaper and television reporters she was guilty and wanted the death penalty.

"I need to be executed for everything that I've done," she told KOMO-TV. "Deciding that I want to die was the most difficult decision I've ever had to make, and I was able to make it without a second thought because I know what I've done and I want to take responsibility for it."

One of her lawyers, Stephan Illa, acknowledged those comments, but said Thursday that Anderson no longer wants the death penalty. He noted that she prevented her previous lawyers from presenting evidence to Satterberg on her behalf, but changed her mind after her new legal team was appointed in August.

"Now that the prosecutor has decided to seek the death penalty, Ms. Anderson and her defense team will fight to save her life," Illa said.

He said Satterberg's decision will prove to be "a very costly mistake," likely involving two separate capital trials, at least half a dozen defense lawyers and associated legal expenses.

"The background and mental health history of this defendant make her an inappropriate candidate for a death sentence," Illa said. "I am confident that a jury will agree."

One of McEnroe's lawyers, Kathryn Ross, said she was disappointed.

"We think there is sufficient mitigating evidence to merit not seeking the death penalty," she said. "But Dan Satterberg has never met Mr. McEnroe, and any future jury will learn more about him than Mr. Satterberg has in making his decision."

She declined to discuss what factors might have weighed against the death penalty for her client.

Satterberg said he weighed the death-penalty decision for 10 months, and made it with input from surviving family members, law enforcement and defense attorneys. Anderson would be the only woman on Washington's death row, which currently features seven men.

No trial date has been set. At a hearing Thursday afternoon in King County Superior Court, prosecutors officially served notice of their intent to seek the death penalty.

Michele Anderson and McEnroe did not attend the hearing on the advice of their attorneys.

Erica Anderson's mother, Pamela Mantle, said she was relieved by Satterberg's announcement.

"It was my opinion that this is what my daughter would have wanted," she said.