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Anger, Sorrow As Man Is Sentenced In Triple Murder

By KOMO Staff

Aug 31, 2006

TACOMA - A man who Pierce County prosecutors say planned the murders of three people pleaded guilty Wednesday in exchange for prosecutors agreeing not to seek the death penalty.

Ulysees Handy III was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of Darren Christian, Daniel Varo, and Lindy Cochran, who were all shot execution-style in a Tacoma house on February 7th.

Under the terms of Handy's plea agreement he cannot be paroled.

Deputy Prosecutor Jerry Costello said the motive was robbery, but that the killings were not the result of a robbery gone bad. Detectives believed that the murders were planned from the beginning. "A drug ripoff and execution-style killing," he said.

As Handy stood before Judge Frank Cuthbertson, he often smiled and smirked while acknowledging his role in the murders. "Guilty as charged," he said, pleading to three counts of aggravated first-degree murder.

Richard Frost brought pictures of his niece Lindy Cochran, who was one of Handy's victims, to show the judge on Wednesday. "She was only 21-year-old," Frost said through tears. "My family won't ever recover from this. Mr. Handy shot her in the head while she pleaded for her life."

As Frost pointed a finger at Handy standing just a few feet away he said, "I hope that somebody on the inside will get their hands on him and choke the life out of him." Relatives of the other victims applauded from the back of the courtroom, but Handy just stood by his lawyer and laughed.

Court documents said that Handy and three others stole a safe containing cash from the victims' home before shooting them.

When Handy addressed the judge he expressed no remorse for his actions. "I'm not taking this deal to escape the death penalty," he said. "I'm going to prison. It's like sending a wildcat back to the jungle."

He went on to say that he would have liked to get the death penalty, and blamed his previous trips through the criminal justice system for the way he turned out in life.

"I'm not asking nobody for sympathy or pity or mercy. I know there's people up in here hurting," he said. "Pain's a part of life. Deal with it. Get over it." Handy's mom then spoke up from the back of the courtroom and told her son to stop.

"I don't know if you can feel that justice is fully done," Judge Cuthbertson said to the victims' famies. "But I hope that you will feel comforted that Mr. Handy will be in prison for the rest of his life and not be able to cause any more harm to any more citizens in this community."

Outside the courtroom, Handy's mother apologized to the families. "I'm sorry, and there's nothing I can do to take it back," said Toshika Barnes. "There's no way I can describe the pain I'm feeling to know that my son could do something like that."

The three other alleged conspirators are still awaiting trial. Prosecutors said Sirree Muhammad, 18, provided the gun, and Handy's friend, Darryl Pierce, served as a lookout.

Pierce's girlfriend, Ronee Gutierrez, allegedly drove the three men to Christian's home the night of the murders and police say she also helped dispose of a safe that was stolen from the home.

Murderer tells victims' families to 'get over it'

Karen Hucks - The News Tribune

September 20th, 2006

Ulysses Handy III walked into court smirking Wednesday morning, and remained smug as he proclaimed himself “guilty as charged” of three aggravated first-degree murder and two assaults.

He smiled. He laughed as victim’s families said they hoped he’d be killed in prison. He told the families, “Pain is part of life. Deal with it, get over it.”

Handy, 24, took advantage of a plea deal Wednesday that let him escape a potential death sentence. Prosecutor Gerry Horne said he wouldn’t seek Handy’s death if he admitted killing Darren Christian, Daniel Varo and Lindy Cochran in a Feb. 7 robbery in a central Tacoma bungalow.

That left only one sentence Pierce County Superior Court Judge Frank Cuthbertson could give Handy – life in prison without any possibility of release.

Handy told Cuthbertson that he wasn’t asking for any sympathy anyway, because he didn’t have any himself.

“I feel there’s two types of people in this world – us and them, predators and prey,” Handy said. “I’m damn sure not prey.”

Cochran’s, Varo’s and Christian’s relatives tearfully tried to describe to the judge what Handy had done to them.

“Part of the thing that’s going to keep me going the rest of my life is that somebody on the inside is going to get their hands on him and choke the life out of him,” Cochran’s great-uncle Richard Frost said. Handy laughed.

“Nobody can put into words what he’s taken from the families,” Christian’s brother, Chris Jones, said. “He can smile about it, and that’s fine, but everything comes full circle. And in one way or another he’ll have to answer to this, other than in this courtroom.”

The packed second-floor court erupted in cheers, as people yelled things at Handy and then his friends yelled back at them. The judge threatened to make people leave. Deputies detained two men after the hearing for threatening victims’ families.

Varo’s mother, Debra Martsching, said she knows that goodness prevails, and that there are only a few evil people in the world.

“I don’t have room in my life and my heart for someone like him,” she said.

Handy, whose friends call him Moonie, knew Varo, 22, and Christian, 28. Cochran, 21, just happened to be staying at the house at the time. Charging papers say early Feb. 7, Handy drove to the house with three friends, but went in and killed Varo, Christian and Cochran by himself, as others stood guard.

Handy, who said pain had been the only constant in his life, only hinted in court about why he’d killed the three.

“I know why I did what I did,” he said. “It wasn’t over no money. It wasn’t over a jacket. And it ain’t no secret who or what I am. I never covered that up, never tried to.... I shoot people, kill people, all that other good stuff, only when I’m provoked. Vengeance, karma, whatever you want to call it. People cross me, I did what I did. And that’s not going to change.”

Handy blamed his inability to feel anything on the eight years he spent in prison for hitting a man over the head with a baseball bat.

“I went into prison a kid,” Handy said. “Whatever love or compassion or mercy or sympathy I had, prison took that away from me. Anything I was died a long time ago.”

In addition to the Feb. 7 murders, Handy pleaded guilty to a robbery at the house. He also pleaded guilty to an unrelated first-degree assault for shooting a man in the stomach on Oct. 21; another first-degree assault for shooting a man who beeped his car horn at him on Jan. 8, and unlawfully possessing guns.

Prosecutors dismissed a child molestation charge in which Handy was accused of giving a young girl Herpes. They also dismissed charges against Handy’s fiancee for first-degree rendering criminal assistance. Three other people are still charged in the murders.

Cuthbertson told him, “The only thing I have to say is that I know the community– even if you don’t — regrets the pain your acts have caused.”

Outside court, Handy’s mother Toshika Barnes, begged the victims’ families for forgiveness.

She said Handy had been raised Catholic with good schooling.

“I’m so sorry,” she sobbed, hugging Martsching. “Please accepted my apology. He was not raised that way … I just pray that the Lord will touch his soul because this apology should come from him.”

'No Regrets,' Confessed Killer Says In Jailhouse Interview

September 21, 2006

TACOMA, Wash. -- Ulysses Handy says he was a Boy Scout and an altar boy, but he also admits he's a killer with no regrets.

It was the triple murder that stunned Tacoma last February.

Now, the man who admits pulling the trigger tells only KIRO 7 Eyewitness News why he did it.

Ulysses Handy says he went to the small house near the University of Puget Sound campus, knowing he was there to kill his friends. When the moment came, he murdered them in cold blood.

Ulysses Handy says, "(I) came back, talked to D.C. (Darren Christian) a little more, kissed him and then that was it."

KIRO 7's Kevin McCarty asked, "Kissed him?"
Handy: "Uh-huh."
McCarty: "And then?"
Handy: "That was it."
McCarty: "Then you shot him?"

Handy nods.

It's hard to get a direct answer from Ulysses Handy III. But in this jailhouse interview with KIRO 7, the 24-year old Handy admits he shot and killed 28-year old Darren Christian, 20-year old Daniel Varo and 21-year old Lindy Cochran at Christian's Tacoma home.

Handy says he was angry with Christian (known as D.C.) over what he calls a betrayal.

He says he murdered both Cochran and Varo after shooting Christian, because they were now witnesses.

Handy describes the moment he shot the three victims, “Dan (Varo) turned around, looked at me, looked at D.C., shot him in the neck, shot him in the head. Lin (Lindy Cochran) got up, looked at me, shot her too.”

McCarty: "What were you thinking at that moment?"

Handy: "Nothing. Nothing at all."

Handy's answers was laced with profanities, and he rarely addressed issues directly.

He says he has no regrets about committing murder.

McCarty: "Glad you did it?"

Handy responds, "No. I didn't want to (expletive) be this way. But, can't have everything we want."

McCarty: "What’s the last thing you’d say to people before you go away?"

Handy laughs and says, "The truth? I don't bite my tongue. Anybody got a problem with what I do, anybody got a problem with what I say, they can (expletive). If I’m going to hell, I'll see a lot of people there."

Killer Laughs, Tells Families To 'Get Over It'