Trial over officer's death delayed again

The case of Charles Champion, who is accused of killing Des Moines police Officer Steven Underwood more than three years ago, is becoming one of the county's most drawn out and cumbersome criminal proceedings.

Yesterday, a trial was postponed — again — as family members and colleagues of the 33-year-old veteran officer sat looking resigned.

They point to the case of Ronald Matthews, who killed King County sheriff's Deputy Richard Herzog more than a year after Underwood was slain. Matthews already has been convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

"We think this has just been a travesty," said Underwood's father, Dick Underwood. "Think of all the things that have happened since. The D.C. snipers were caught, tried, convicted and sentenced. Rachel Burkheimer was murdered and seven defendants were all tried, convicted and sentenced.

"And we can't even get to trial on one," he said.

The case has become a mass of paperwork, growing to 400 documents that include allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, defense-attorney infighting, more than a dozen motions for dismissal, and appeals to the state Supreme Court. Postponements have become routine. But Champion's defense lawyers said the real problem is that Champion, unlike Matthews, is facing the death penalty — for reasons that they say are poorly supported — and the case requires careful, slow and measured consideration.

"One thing we've learned is that if it's not done right the first time, we will all be back here in nine years doing the same thing on appeal," said defense attorney Jacqueline Walsh.

Judge Anthony Wartnik, who has given up on his once-expressed hope to see the case through before his retirement early next year, agreed.

"It's just not the kind of case you want to rush through," he said.

The evidence against Champion in the case is fairly straightforward, according to Deputy Prosecutor Nelson Lee.

Underwood was killed on March 7, 2001, when he pulled his patrol car over on Pacific Highway South to talk to four men. He radioed to dispatch that he recognized Champion, who was wanted on a warrant. Minutes later, Underwood was shot four times. Witnesses told police that Champion, then 18, pulled the trigger.

Champion was arrested the next day in Sumas, Whatcom County, when he poked his head up from the back seat of his mother's boyfriend's car. His mother told police they were on the way to the police station, where Champion was going to turn himself in, Lee said.

In October of that year, King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng decided to seek the death penalty against Champion, now 22.

Champion's attorneys say prosecutors can't prove their client killed Underwood with "premeditated intent," which is a requirement for the death penalty.

They also say that Champion's case has a number of mitigating factors, including his age at the time of the shooting, a troubled childhood and his family's cooperation in the investigation, that have traditionally weighed in on the side of leniency.

Champion's lawyers have argued that the charge should be dismissed because of the inherent unfairness of the death penalty, because of its disproportionate use on black men, and because Gary Ridgway — who confessed to killing 48 women — was given a life sentence.

"The death penalty is supposed to be administered fairly, in a way that can be anticipated," Walsh has previously said. "There is no way anyone could have imagined that Champion would be facing death and Ridgway would not."

Most recently, Champion's attorneys argued that the death penalty must be removed in light of a recent Supreme Court ruling, called the Blakely decision, that the need for an extraordinary sentence must be proven to a jury and not simply admitted by a judge. Champion's attorneys have also filed more than 100 sealed documents, many of them said to involve disputes between Champion's current and former public defenders about compensation and strategy.

"This is getting very monotonous," Underwood's father said. "We feel they are putting the cart before the horse. Let him go to trial, let a jury decide if he's guilty and what he's guilty of. Then worry about the sentence."

The next court hearing is scheduled for Oct. 8.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983