Defending Gary: Unraveling the Mind of the Green River Killer

by Mark Prothero, Carlton Smith (Contributor)

At first, Mark Prothero, Defense Attorney for Gary Ridgway, thought: "This can't be the Green River Killer! He's too ordinary! He's too small. He's too calm. He's too polite! He can't possibly have murdered forty-nine women.  They can't be serious! They must have screwed up! I didn't realize then, but I was right.  Gary Ridgway hadn't killed forty-nine women.  He'd killed even more than that." Soon, Mark Prothero faced the question: "How could you possibly defend the most prolific serial killer in United States history, the infamous Green River Killer?  If anyone deserved to be executed for his crimes, didn't he?" Mark Prothero, co-lead defense attorney who helped save Gary Ridgway from the death sentence, has heard that question many times. Now he’s written a book that reveals the true, inside story of exactly how an idealistic public defender, high school swim coach, husband, and dad could bring himself to spend many months of close confinement with a man who brutally murdered at least 75 young women, often in the act of sex. Defending Gary shows how Prothero could reconcile these monstrous acts knowing the reality of this unassuming fellow Gary Ridgway, a mild-mannered, church-going, devoted husband, father, and former Navy man, with an IQ of around 82 and a longtime job as a truck painter from Auburn, Washington, near Seattle.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Psychology, Memoir, Serial Killer, Biography

558 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

In case you may have forgotten, what with everything else that's gone on since, Gary Ridgway was the no-mark who confessed to the murder of 71 (at least) prostitutes in Washington State in the 1980s and 1990s. He was sent down for life in 2003 and is currently aged 65, serving out his nasty life in Washington State Pen. This book is by his main defence lawyer.

The defense lawyers in a big serial killer case must get a lot of stick - "how could you defend that creep?" - and you rarely hear them defend themselves - I believe that's called irony. In this book Mark Prothero speaks up for his line of business. He says that you have to make the prosecution prove it in court, make sure all the rules of fairness are followed, make sure it's a trial and not a lynching. He says it's far more likely for innocent people to be found guilty than the opposite. Hmm, why would that be, Mark ?

That’s just the way the system works, even with all the rights we theoretically afford the accused.

Wow - I would have liked a bit more detail there! He also says that if one guilty person does occasionally go free, that’s better than having our rights suppressed to the point where all the guilty would be convicted. That’s the path to dictatorship.

[So we wonder if the Nazis or Stalin had a fantastic clear-up rate for their crimes and we see that the cases of Dr Marcel Petiot and Andrei Chikatilo indicate otherwise. But I digress.]

Mark says that defense lawyers are the quality control for the criminal justice system, making sure it's operating under the rules.

In a significant way, our most important client is the constitution itself.

I like that, and I thought this was quite brilliant :

Politicians love to defend the constitution except when it comes to defending the constitution.

By which he means that in the Green River case, Washington State and local politicians were squawking loud and long about the $1.9 million which was requested by Gary Ridgway's defense team at a point where the county's finances were in deficit. It was a tough ask, but the defense had to sift through all the records on all the 49 murders he was charged with to check if maybe they themselves could discover if someone else had done them, a big job I'm sure you would agree.

AN UNEASY DIGRESSION

All well and good, but now dig this. When this mostrous Green River case dropped into his lap, Mark was finishing up a previous murder case, concerning a guy named Roy Webbe. Roy is found guilty of rape-murder, and Mark says this:

I was disappointed but hadn't gotten my hopes up too high, Roy's defense had strained credulity. Roy had insisted on taking the stand on his own behalf. He testified that he, a mentally deranged, drug-addicted transient with a head full of dirty dreadlocks, had consensual sex with the victim, a single mom whom he’d never met before. Then, later, someone else had come into her apartment and nearly decapitated her with a steak knife. So even though we had put up a good, hard fight, I wasn't completely surprised by the jury's verdict.

Well now - if the defense is quality control of the prosecution to prevent a lynching, how come it doesn't quality control itself? Why would Mark even allow such a ridiculous story to be told by his client? Okay maybe he couldn't prevent it because the client insisted. But then, why would he be DISAPPOINTED when the jury found Roy Webbe to be guilty even though he openly admits Roy's story was a crock of shit? The clear implication is that Mark really wanted Roy to be acquitted even though he himself thought Roy's story was unbelievable.

This is the charge we tend to lay against (some) defense lawyers, that they move heaven and earth to free the guilty for pay. This is the charge Mark ably refutes in his earlier defense of the defense and yet then convicts himself of, as you see. Any reasonable person would not have "gotten their hopes up too high" for the acquittal of his rape-murderer because in fact he'd have been hoping like hell for a conviction because he would have known at some point that his client was in fact a deranged rape-murderer.

BUT AS I WAS SAYING

The murders of prostitutes from 1982 to 1998 were not solved. They had to wait for science to introduce DNA profiling. The they were solved.

That's a lot of years for a guy with a low IQ to be able to go round picking up prostitutes, strangling them and dumping the bodies in or near one particular river. His pattern hardly varied.

So, after the DNA turned up positive in 2003 and Ridgway was arrested, there began a horrible "dance of the scorpions" as the authors call it. The defense lawyers have to make a dual assumption

1) he's innocent;

2) he's guilty

This is because they have to prepare immediately for the "mitigation" part of the trial, which is where the prosecution asks for the death penalty and the defence asks for a life sentence. So one lawyer scurries around asking family members if Gary ever bumped his head real bad, and investigates whether breathing paint fumes during his job could have made him kill approx 60 women (the number keeps going up as the book progresses). And another lawyer scurries around trying to re-investigate all the police investigations of all 49 murders to see if some other guy did it.

But then, the defense team realises that Gary was definately guilty of the (mere) 5 murders he's originally accused of. Then then have to wait for the "tipping point" - when their client will confess to them. After that comes possibly the weirdest aspect to the story - Gary confesses to the police and then HE has to prove his confessions aren't all lies!

He does this by taking detectives to sites they never knew about where he buried bodies. But the landscape has changed so much in 15-20 years that Gary gets it repeatedly wrong. Finally, after ten sites are searched, some bones are found - and everyone is elated! Leading to this exchange (get your sick bag ready):

Mark : Good job, Gary.
Gary: Thanks, thank goodness they found someone.
Mark : I hope you're feeling better about this now. What a huge relief!
Gary: Yeah, it is a huge relief... I knew I'd left her there.
He looked at me, nodding. I could see tears welling up in his eyes.
[note : Gary Ridgway was very sentimental, he cried a lot.] The stress he'd been keeping inside must have been nearly unbearable, especially after everyone had repeatedly condemned him for lying.... I told Gary "Have a good restful night's sleep. You've done something good. You should feel good about it."

The lawyers stroke and praise the slaughterer of 70 plus women not because they've lost their moral compasses, not because they're in awe of their famous client, but because they need Ridgway to keep co-operating. So it's like trout tickling, easy does it, no quick movements please. And it makes for very nauseating reading.

Finally : this is a great big book and whilst it's very true that many tedious details about Mark Prothero's other life as a swimming coach are included (to humanise him) and there are also a great many needless repetitions and stylistic infelicities, and in spite of the fact that Mark Prothero can be caned very harshly for some moral turpitude of his own, as you've seen, this is an instant true crime classic for true crime fans everywhere.

[Katherine Addison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book about the defense of Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer. Prothero was one of Ridgway's lawyers, and he provides an in-depth, detailed account from the first time he saw Ridgway to the sentencing hearing.

It's a completely different viewpoint than the other books I've read about Ridgway, which have all been from the cops' point of view. (Ann Rule, though not a cop on the case herself, was friends with several of the cops and throughout her extensive body of work takes a consistently pro-cop stance.) One big difference is Prothero's assessment of David Reichert, as opposed to either Rule's or Reichert's own. Prothero doesn't think much better of Reichert than I do, and he and his co-author Carlton Smith, who wrote one of the first books on the Green River Killer, long before he was caught, are extremely and rightfully critical of Reichert's choices in conducting the investigation.

And Prothero sees Gary Ridgway in a way that neither Rule nor Reichert even try to, as a human being who has done monstrous things rather than simply as a monster. I was muttering about bleeding-heart liberals to begin with, but Prothero isn't sugarcoating Ridgway or exculpating him. He's very aware that Ridgway killed probably more than seventy women (Ridgway's memory is legitimately so bad that he himself doesn't know how many women he killed) and he finds him horrific. But Prothero believes, as Rule does not, that Ridgway's desire to help the families of the victims is genuine, that there IS a difference between the Gary Ridgway of 1982 and the Gary Ridgway of 2001. (You may or may not agree with him, but he presents good evidence.) He sees in Ridgway, as he says, a nasty, tricky little boy who grew up to be a nasty, tricky, messed-up man--a view in sharp opposition to Reichert's. Reichert, after all, titled his book Chasing the Devil. And of all the people who have written about the Green River Killer, Prothero is the one who has spent the most time with him, literally thousands of hours, and who had to go through the devastating stages from believing he was innocent to knowing he was guilty.

Prothero is also scrupulously aware of WHERE EVIDENCE COMES FROM, that several of the things the prosecution took as gospel, such as the "fact" that Ridgway's mother dressed provocatively, came only from the deposition of Ridgway's 2nd wife, and he's most severely critical not even of Reichert, but of Mary Ellen O'Toole, the FBI profiler who came in and, according to Prothero, TOLD Ridgway what he was and why, rather than listening to him to try to find out. (A lot of people spent a lot of time trying to get Ridgway to tell them where his "trophies" were hidden and not listening to Ridgway telling them HE DIDN'T KEEP TROPHIES. Because all serial killers keep trophies. We all know that. Right?) Reichert and O'Toole both used a lot of tricks to try to impress Ridgway with how important they were and how important he WASN'T. From Prothero's point of view (sitting there in the interrogation room with his client), this tricks look like shoddy gimcrack--and he doesn't think Ridgway was impressed, either.

(Ridgway won that stare-down with Reichert, if you know the scene in Rule.)

This book is not, and does not pretend to be, about the Green River murders. Prothero's scope is solely the desperate attempts of the defense team to keep Gary Ridgway from being executed. (And with that narrow scope, the book is still more than 500 pages long.) I still think Green River, Running Red is an excellent book, but Defending Gary provides a fascinating parallax view, and delves into a lot of holes that Rule simply steps over.

[Ubiquitousbastard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so the tagline is that you can't put this book down. I did, several times. However, I'm not saying that I did that out of boredom or annoyance or anything else, I'm just irritated that the tagline is so stupid.

Alright, since I want to be a defense attorney myself and have an interest in serial killers, this was clearly a book I had to read. I pretty much right away found that I had many of the same views as the author, not just on justice. I do share a similar outlook on the death penalty and what constitutes justice, so maybe I was a little biased toward liking this book rather than if I disagreed.

For the most part, I would say this is a very well-written book that gives a very unique and in-depth look at a highly publicized case. Prothero and his co-author do a good job of portraying the emotions and attitudes of the people involved in addition to a very thorough rundown of the facts. Compared to the previous two (three?) books I've read on this case, I think that this was probably the most accurate depiction as well as being the least sensationalist. There were a few moments where I felt the authors were just trying to hook readers, and I kind of honestly didn't care at all about Prothero's coaching side-job, but other than that, I really couldn't find much to dislike. I'm actually kind of glad that this book was written, as I believe that it gives the best look at how and why a serial killer kills and how they can portray themselves to others. That's something I always want answered "why?" and the sort of conclusion that there isn't much of a why is somehow a kind of satisfactory answer to my question.

As a irrelevant side note: Todd Gruenhagen sounds like kind of an awesome person, and Norm Maleng's statement to the press after the plea deal was so beautiful I had to stop and cry for a minute before continuing. Actually, I cried several times in this book, but that was usually just when the enormity of it all hit me.

I was tempted to give this five stars despite the small issues I had, but there's something about saying that I "loved" reading this that I just cannot manage in light of the content. I feel kind of bad about that, but I can't bring myself to do it.

[Brenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

To call Defending Gary a harrowing read would be as great an understatement as to say Green River serial killer Gary Ridgway was merely "prolific."

With a total of 48 charged murders in Washington committed over a two-decade timespan, Ridgway remains the most murderous serial killer to be on record in the United States - in fact, the true number of murders is speculated to be at more than seventy. To one unfamiliar with the case, this number seems highly unlikely... until one reads the manner in which it all unfolded.

Defending Gary does not read like a typical courtroom thriller. Very little of the book's narrative takes place within the courtroom, with most of the activity therein taking place in a matter of hours. Instead, author and Ridgway defense attorney Mark Prothero describes the change of focus from a massive criminal trial to a stark plea bargaining hearing.

And it is not simply the gruesome detail of the murders which leaves the reader feeling completely overwrought, nor is it the tremendous amount of research and detail ultimately presented against Ridgway. As it turns out, it is the depiction of Gary Ridgway as a human being - and his mental deconstruction, his emotional unraveling - which does it.

Prothero begins the book with an assumption of his client's innocence. Ridgway himself seems to come to life within the pages, more vibrant a character than many in contemporary literature. From his choice of words and actions, it is apparent that the dyslexic Ridgway functions with his own brand of "compromised intelligence," not quite being able to stay focused within conversation, and having a seemingly malleable personality variant upon his perceived expectations from different audiences.

In short, Ridgway did the best he could to conceal his intellectual shortcomings through overt politeness and clumsy congeniality. Throughout the first half of this book, Ridgway comes across as a real-life, modern-day Lennie Small - albeit one of smaller stature and greater independence. He is portrayed as if he actually were an guileless everyman, whose DNA simply happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And then, almost without warning, the other side of Ridgway begins to be excruciatingly extracted from him - by his own defense team. Ridgway's words are reprinted verbatim, according to the transcripts - word for stammering word, syllable per misplaced syllable, grunt for awkward grunt. The man begins to dissolve before a reader on the page, becoming the vestibular persona beyond which lies the heart and mind of a remorseless killer. The transition is, almost literally, stomach-turning and personally devastating to one who had "come to know" Gary Ridgway through Prothero's protective eyes.

Of course, the book also depicts the defense team in a strong - though less-than-completely-flattering - light. For instance, Prothero (while emphasizing his strong desire for a fair trial) admits to some delight upon news that rats had literally eaten up some of the state's evidence against Ridgway, having been in storage for more than ten years. Another member of the team (namely, Todd Gruenhagen) was quoted as having encouraged Prothero to "keep asking for more money" from the state in addition to the millions of tax dollars already alloted to the defense team because the state's financial burden would be "definitely a factor that weighs in our favor, whether spoken out loud of not." So much for a fair trial by adhering to the evidence alone...

One final point, although not a major detraction from the book, was Prothero's somewhat stilted effort to inject appreciation for his family's and friends' support. In one passage, the author/attorney dedicates nearly an entire page to the minutiae of one Saturday, briefly describing his daughter's soccer game that morning, his lunch and dinner meals, the sporting event he watched on television with his son, etc. It seemed as if Prothero - in an attempt to show his loved ones that he was still paying attention to his private life during this manic stage in his career - felt the need to share such irrelevant detail with the world as proof of his awareness thereof. With a book of its stature, however, such passages serve not as a balm from the bookending horrors described, but as unnecessary filler and somewhat pandering to reader "expectations" of what a "normal" life could be outside of the case.

All in all, a very well researched book - but far from being one of the "lighter" true crime paperbacks on the market. This one hits hard - over and over and over again.

[Henry L. Racicot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ridgway supposedly had an IQ of 80, but considering the number of times he crossed paths with the po-lice while he was in the midst of his prostitute-killing career and they couldn't manage to connect the dots, we must judge him considerably smarter than *Law Enforcement.* Anyway, this is a decent book, but at least 150 pages too long, the author unnecessarily padding things with dozens and dozens of pages of useless personal anecdotes concerning himself and his family. Nobody gives a shit about his coaching the high school swim team, just relate all the Ridgway interviews and conversations, that's what the reader wants, just as in the book subtitle: 'unraveling the mind of the green river killer.' We don't need to unravel the day-to-day grind of his lawyer. But the strictly Ridgway stuff will satisfy those who are morbidly curious about serial killers.

[Lauri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another book that I just couldn't put down. It's pretty rare for me to be so into a book that I want to read it above all other activites, including breathing. Well, this book was one of those books. Growing up as a kid in Renton (Seattle) in the 80s, it was impossible to escape the boogie man of the day --- The Green River Killer. My best friend of 28 years and I were curious then and became obsessed later. We read the Green River Killer when it was published - at the time, the crimes were still unsolved. The case broke wide open in 2001 and the community at large was awestruck. The fact that (many of) these cases were finally cracked is, in itself, no small miracle. This book, written by Gary's defense attorney, is told from the most personal perspective possible. The book did annoy me in parts. Specifically, when the attorney would go into detail about his own personal life. It seemed to detract from the topic at hand. Though, the story was so compellingly written that I found myself actually sympathizing with Gary Ridgway, the most prolific and brutal of all serial killers -- who also happens to double as a most humble and ordinary man.

[Fishface · Rating 4 out of 5]

This massive book tracks the monumental effort by the defense team of the Green River Killer (Gary Ridgway) to make sure he got a fair shake in court. Reveals the tough, tough job faced in a case like this, even by the public defenders of a guy who's confessed already and plans to work out a plea bargain. Made me come away with fresh respect for the legal profession and anyone who has to work anywhere near a serial murder case.

[A.r. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by the defence atorney. I don't know if I've read any other books by the defence that admits their client's guilt, so it was interesting in this way. I felt Anne Rule's book was a bit better with the details of these crimes, but this was still a good book. It's a large book, but the font is also large.

[Shelby Parkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Might be 500 pages but I read this in two days. A little dense but really fantastic read filled with detail.

[A.D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow, killers like Ted Bundy and Charles Manson capture popular attention and create a strange, "alluring" picture to paste on their offences. Movies like "Silence of the Lambs" and other media craft an elegant persona for the serial killer, who must be attractive, dangerously smart, and incredibly persuasive.

Gary Ridgway has probably never fit these tropes. He is not handsome, not a genius, and perhaps only persuasive in looking benign. He is the most "successful" perpetrator of serial murder in the United States, with anywhere from 71 to over 100 tragic victims. Some of these women were transients or prostitutes.

The author is the main defense attorney from the ACA serving Ridgway as they navigate new DNA evidence beginning in 2001. Ridgway's guilt comes to light very quickly. Even so, the author and his defense team do not resign their posts, as this is not their duty. Everyone is guaranteed a fair trial represented by a lawyer, regardless of guilt or innocence.

The defense team fights hard to convince Ridgway to come clean about details of the murders so he might receive a plea deal and avoid execution. There are rarely any moments of judgement or sensationalising in this account. Instead, the author focuses on doing his job: giving Gary Ridgway the best chance at justice he can receive.

Overall, the book is very compelling and one of the better attempts at the insider's PoV to true crime. It recalls the approach of Ann Rule in its care for the subject and lack of homicidal fetishising. A good book.

[Marcos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! I first heard of the GRK story during my first year of Criminal Justice college courses, but later pulled into the task force because I once repaired Mr Ridgeway's computer. I hardly recall the author of this book, whom I had only met once pertaining his client at hand, but was not able to provide any useful information. I was last updated about GRK via the Crime Investigation Network. This book is an excellent refresher!

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written by one of the lawyers on the defense team of Gary Ridgway, also known as the Green River Killer. The behind the scenes look at the defense portion of the court case was interesting, and a different perspective than I have read or listened to on podcasts about this case. The back of the book had a blurb to the effect of "once you pick it up, you won't be able to put it down." I did not find that to be the case. It wasn't hardly that page turning for me personally.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gave me a good understanding of the defence of a criminal, and how the doctrine of precedent is applied. I enjoyed reading this book

[Ruth Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not for the faint of heart. A fascinating look into the world of the law and justice.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little slow in the beginning, but once you get t o the 3rd act, it's hard to put down!

[Micky Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

2nd time I have read this book still a fascinating read inside the mind of a serial killer great book

[Mary Whisner · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Green River Killer" killed dozens of women in South King County in the early 1980s. Despite intensive work by the King County Sheriff's Office, no one had been arrested. Until November 2001, when officers announced that they had him.

Defending Gary picks up there, as Mark Prothero, a public defender away from his office, hears the rumor that someone has been arrested. One friend says that there's DNA evidence and speculates that Prothero will get the case, since he's "the DNA guy" in his office (Associated Counsel for the Accused).

Prothero became co-lead counsel, along with Tony Savage, a private lawyer whom the family hired. (Once Ridgway's house was sold to pay Savage's retainer, he was indigent and eligible for public defense.) The team eventually included eight lawyers, plus investigators and consultants.

With his client's permission to use confidential communications, Prothero tells a compelling story -- not just about a serial killer, but about how the legal team worked on his defense. Prothero was aided in his writing by Carlton Smith, an experienced journalist who had already written best-selling books about the Jon-Benet Ramsay case and even, years before, the Green River Killer case (The Search for the Green River Killer, 1991). And so the book has that page-turning, hard-to-put-down style of the best true crime writing.

What we don't have is a great courtroom drama. Why? Because this case never went to trial.

The prosecution has such good physical evidence on seven charged murders that the defense thought that the best way to save Ridgway's life would be to plea bargain to avoid the death penalty. And the prosecution had so little evidence on forty-some other murders that solving those crimes with Ridgway's confession would be worth the plea bargain.

And so defense and prosecution spent months observing detectives questioning Ridgway—and the book gives a lot of detail about those interviews using official transcripts. Unlike the diabolically brilliant serial killers you sometimes see in movies, Ridgway was generally muddle-headed and inarticulate, but the detectives eventually got the details they needed to close a lot of cases and bring some closure to the families of the young women Ridgway had killed.

The handling of this mammoth case—by prosecution, defense, and presiding judge—was so good that the King County Bar Association honored all: Outstanding Lawyer: Prosecution and Defense Teams in the Gary Ridgway Trial, Bar Bull., June 2004; Outstanding Judge: Honorable Richard A. Jones, King County Superior Court, Bar Bull., June 2004.

[Gary Daly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engrossing read, though disturbing and for me it's an intellectual paradox whereby I read this huge book with great enthusiasm learning about this grotesque killer and on the again what is known or revealed about his countless victims. We always hear the media commentary when these men get caught, about how 'banal' and 'normal' or 'boring' they are to friends, family and police. Yet the only people who see the monster are his victims and regardless of the research I feel it's impossible to know the monster once he has been caught. The book is about the network of lawyers (his), detectives, police interviews, court system and a confession that is as ugly as it gets. This isn't one of those off the shelf 'true crime' paperbacks. It's a extremely well researched and thought provoking read. The issue of the death penalty in these crimes is used by lawyers his and social commentators without (in my opinion) any reference to the feelings and desires of the victims families who sat through the trial listening and looking at to vivid descriptions of murder and torture. Gary Ridgway plea bargained himself out of the death penalty by coming 'clean' on the whereabouts of all of his victims. In the same manner that Ted Bundy another vain and shallow self righteous sadist who tearfully tried to bargain his way out of a death sentence (he was executed) because as his fate became real, he became real. Like the victims he murdered, Bundy (and Ridgway) are so afraid of death considering their disgusting crimes and a life steeped in murder one wonders why society at large works so hard to protect human slime like Ridgeway and others at the expense of their victims.
A fascinating read at times extremely frustrating considering how 'easy' it was for Ridgway to continue killing freely year after year. Amongst a myriad of reasons contributing to this free for all was a lack of police powers to 'intervene' or 'engage' in police work that is deemed 'intrusive'.

[a. · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a well-written book by a veteran attorney dropped into the case of his life. the value of this book is several-fold, for me, at least. first, you are really allowed into the mindset of a criminal defense attorney who strongly believes in the constitution and the right to a fair trial, even when his client is a) pretty obviously guilty and b) guilty of heinous acts. on that note alone, i think it's valuable, because a lot of people really don't understand that.

prothero's insights into ridgeway, his strange likeability at times, etc. are also valuable. you see a side of the monster you rarely see.

and finally, you have an idea of what goes into a death penalty case of this nature, from both sides. the agonizing work, the backbreaking labor, the cost in both time, relationships, and resources. i feel like for someone unfamiliar with the criminal justice system, this could be an eye-opener.

prothero is a little grandstanding, of course, but many lawyers are. either way, this was an insightful and worthwhile book.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I seem to have a penchant for reading about serial killers these days. I started reading about Gary because he lived, worked and killed in Kent for many years, and it freaked me out when I learned this.

I think I want to know more about him so I feel comfortable again. I drive past the 'cluster' sites and get the chills. I can't seem to forget the faces of the ladies he killed.

A friend says I like people puzzles, and can't seem to solve these, so will continue to read and ponder until SOMETHING about them makes sense.

Creepy people. It really does elude me.

I chose this specific book, because Mark Prothero is a local attorney, and I've actually met him.

I don't know if this book is for everybody, but I was compelled to read it. I did have to put it down and digest things for several days at a time, though.

[Rock · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fascinating on a number of levels. Learning about the process of mounting a death penalty case was very enlightening. Then, add to that the stunning horror of the crimes and the strange person who committed them, and this becomes a must-read for true crime followers. I'd suggest reading "Green River Running Red" first to get the full story of the crimes, then take a deep breath and see what happened after this man was finally caught and put in the legal system.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Ann Rule's book on the Gary Ridgeway, and then having the honer to sit in on a case study presented by the forensic psychologist and prosecutor of this case, I can't imagine a better way to wrap my reading on green river killer. The defense attorney had a wonderful perspective and was honest about the case and his client.

[Angie crosby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the different perspective this book gave. Normally true crime are written by interested authors. This book written by a defense lawyer of mr. ridgeway. Gives insights that other green river books don't give. More than a book about Gary Ridgeway, this book is about the process of defending someone charged with a capitol crime.

[Sandy Priester · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a long book, but it contained information I had never read before.
I didn't lose interest in the narrative and each day I read part of it, I put it down later than I planned or expected to.
The unfortunate part of it was the disillusion it caused of my previously high regard for other authors who covered this case.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the partners at the law firm i currently work at wrote this book, as he "Defend[ed] Gary." It's a pretty well written true crime novel that doens't get too preachy or judgmental. After all, the author is a criminal defense attorney. Ridgway is one fucked up dude.

[Gord · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not overly well written,very slow and tedious reading mostly and far to long. Two of the chapters are probably the most disturbing things I have ever read/thought of/ or thought a person could do to a human corpse. Can't say I would recommend it!

[Cailen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting account of what it takes--money, manpower, strategy--to defend the green river killer.;/

[Carie Parkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am currently reading and it is a great book. It is from his lawyers eyes - all the other ones i've read on Gary is about the victims and the police investigations. It is nice to see another view.

[Beverly K · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting look into the mind of a serial killer...and the defense attorneys responsible for representing him.

[Steve Kemp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this one ! A must for the Serial Killer enthusiasts . Much better than the stuff put out by Sheriff Hairspray and the like .