Rare News Desk
SEATTLE — Thursday convicted killer Joe McEnroe had his last chance to convince the jury to spare him from the death penalty. The same jury that convicted him of murdering his girlfriend’s family on Christmas Eve 2007, will decide if he will be sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty.
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McEnroe told the jury today that they victims visited him from the afterlife and aren’t as mad as you’d think.”
“They said they don’t blame [me]. I tried to apologize to them. It’s like, look, I’m sorry for what happened,” said McEnroe Thursday.
He said the victims want him to live and do good. McEnroe says he wants to help other men in prison.
“In your mind you’ve convinced yourself Judy Anderson is not as mad as what you might think about the murder of her two grandchildren?” asked Sr. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Scott O’Toole.
“Yes,” said McEnroe.
“This is what you’ve been told by them” O’Toole questioned.
“Yes sir,” McEnroe responded.
Prosecutors are convinced McEnroe and Michele Anderson were motivated by greed. Investigators say Michele Anderson was upset her parents were going to start charging her for utilities in the mobile home she lived in with McEnroe on her parents Carnation property. Detectives say the pair targeted six unsuspecting victims as they gathered on Christmas Eve. Wayne and Judy were shot first, their bodies hidden outside, the house cleaned. When Michele Anderson’s brother Scott Anderson, his wife Erica and two young children – Olivia 5, and Nathan, 3, arrived – they were murdered too.
“The plan was Michele Anderson would get all that money and all that property.” stated O’Toole.
“Yes,” said McEnroe.
“And you would live happily ever after.” added O’Toole.
“Yes, that was the plan she sold me on,” McEnroe answered.
Defense attorneys got to question McEnroe one final time. “Joe, how often do you think about killing the Andersons?” asked defense attorney Bill Prestia.
McEnroe let out a loud cry, stamped his foot and answered, “It’s in my mind all the time.”
Prestia asked McEnroe about a statement he made on Tuesday, ” You said ‘Look just kill me, I don’t care.’ So do you care? Why don’t you just accept execution?”
“I have to make – If I just die then that’s an act of further destructiveness,” McEnroe said. He says he wants to help other men in prison.
“Joe, do you feel bad for killing these people?” asked Prestia.
“Words cannot express how awful this is — how awful I feel,” answered McEnroe.
McEnroe wouldn’t promise he would not kill again. McEnroe said if someone was attacked in the jail he would try other things first, but if he had to he would kill. He said he would try not to let someone talk him in to killing again. But he couldn’t promise it wouldn’t happen, because he never thought it would have happened in the first place.
The defense will call more witnesses next week. The penalty phase will likely be in the hands of the jury in early May.
Michele Anderson’s trial is scheduled for the fall.
