Before a packed courtroom, King County Superior Court
Judge Jeffery Ramsdell briefly stared down from the bench at Anderson,
20, before speaking.
"A jury unilaterally convicted you for four . . .
brutal and senseless murders," Ramsdell said. "I will resist the
temptation to unnecessarily belabor this and say anything more."
With that, Ramsdell handed down the sentence.
Relatives of the victims -- Bill, Rose, Kimberly and
Julia Wilson -- attended the sentencing, but declined to make any
remarks to the judge. Anderson, a slim figure, also remained silent,
although he, too, had the right to address the court.
Anderson was convicted Dec. 17 after two trials. The
first time, a jury split 11-1 in favor of conviction. In November 1998,
his friend and partner in the slayings, Alex Baranyi, was also convicted
of four counts of aggravated murder.
Baranyi, who confessed, is also serving a life
sentence without possibility of release. He gave little motive for the
killings, except to say he was in a rut and that he and his friend
wanted to experience something "truly phenomenal."
Prosecutors say Anderson had talked for years about
committing a murder before the Wilsons were slain, and on numerous
occasions specifically discussed killing that particular family and
stealing their property.
Both men were 17 at the time of the slayings in
January 1997, too young for prosecutors to seek the death penalty.
Prosecutors say Anderson and Baranyi strangled Kim
Wilson, 20, at a Woodridge-neighborhood park in south Bellevue and
dumped her body in bushes. They then crept into her family's nearby home
with knives and a baseball bat, police say, where they beat and stabbed
her parents, Bill and Rose, and her 17-year-old sister, Julia.
The weapons were never found.
Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Baird has called the slayings
"somewhere between murder and genocide."
His co-counsel, Patricia Eakes, was reflective after
the sentencing. Memories of the case will never leave her, she said,
because she was with police when the bodies of Bill, Rose and Julia were
discovered.
Eakes and the officers had gone to the home to inform
them that Kimberly's body had been found.
"I've never discovered bodies before," she said. "It's
just difficult to describe how I feel about everything. It was such a
shock. We thought we were going to the home to notify them of the death
of their daughter. It was like a bad dream."
Anderson's second trial lasted three months. Eakes
said earlier she believes they did a better job presenting evidence to
the jury.
The defense maintained that Anderson had nothing to
do with the murders, arguing that boots stained with the blood of Julia
and Bill Wilson may have been planted in his bedroom by the real killer.
Pete Connick, one of Anderson's attorneys, said he
has already filed an appeal in the case, based on numerous unsuccessful
defense motions seeking a new trial.
"We believe there are some pretty serious issues,"
Connick said, giving no details.
Anderson's parents, Leslie and Bruce Anderson,
attended the sentencing, but left the courtroom grim and silent. They
were present nearly every time their son was in court.
Both are convinced he was wrongly convicted, Connick
said.