Cloud's plea may cut prison stay

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Darrell Cloud, a Seattle man convicted of killing a Whitman Middle School teacher who had sexually abused him, has agreed to a deal that will make it possible for him to be out of prison in less than three years.

Yesterday, with rows of friends and family behind him in King County Superior Court, Cloud calmly entered an Alford plea to the reduced charge of second-degree murder. An Alford plea is a modified guilty plea in which a defendant doesn't admit guilt but acknowledges he likely would be convicted if the case went to trial.

"This has been a difficult case for everyone," said Judge Michael Hayden. "A decade of sex abuse by a respected educator led to an execution-style slaying."

The new plea and sentence could mean "the beginning of closure," Hayden said.

Cloud, who is now 31, was convicted in March 1995 of first-degree murder for killing Neal Summers, who had abused him since he was a middle-school student. The conviction shocked Cloud's attorney, John Henry Browne, who had told Cloud that his defense - not guilty by reason of insanity - was so strong he predicted the prosecution had only a 5 percent chance of winning.

That prediction led Cloud to turn down a second-degree-murder plea-bargain, but Cloud ended up being convicted of the greater charge.

Later, new attorneys argued that Browne had done a poor job representing Cloud. The case was appealed and then returned to Superior Court, where Hayden agreed and ruled that Browne had erred in making his 5 percent prediction. Hayden granted Cloud a new trial, a decision prosecutors appealed.

Yesterday, the parties agreed to a deal close to the one originally offered. The only difference is that this offer required the defense to agree to a 12-year prison sentence. With credit for time served and a 15 percent reduction in the sentence for "good time," the deal means Cloud has two years and nine months left to serve.

The earlier agreement had no sentencing limitations, which would have made it possible for the defense to request a lower-than-average sentence. Cloud's current attorneys, Jeff Ellis and Virginia Faller, said that would have been justified in this case.

Cloud's mental state during the shooting could have been one of the mitigating factors in the sentencing phase of the trial, Faller said.

Four psychiatrists testified that Cloud had a psychotic episode when he waited across the street for Summers to come to work and then shot him with a high-powered rifle. The experts disagreed whether he knew right from wrong at the time - a critical point in not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity cases.

Faller said she was disappointed that Cloud did not receive a sentence below average, which could have resulted in release from prison even sooner.

But "this does bring closure for Darrell," she said.

Cloud's parents, Bill and Ingrid Cloud, also had hoped for a lighter sentence.

"I'm happy we're not going to trial," Ingrid Cloud said.

"I'm disappointed the prosecutors couldn't free themselves to agree to something less," Bill Cloud said.

Both parents said the new sentence will allow their son to see an end to a long ordeal.

Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tim Bradshaw said the sentence leaves the message of the original jury intact: "You can't take the law into your own hands."

Nancy Bartley can be reached at 206-464-8522 or nbartley@seattletimes.com.