by Ann Rule
"Would the person be dead--instantly?"
"The brain is shocked by the bullet and the gas and superheated air that follows. It shuts down immediately," Dr. Reynolds answered. "The subject can't move, although the heart still beats--ten to fifteen minutes possibly--making blood soak into the carpet beneath her body."
The witness explained lividity carefully to the jury. "The blood settles and clots in the 'first lividity.' Then, in this case, there was a second lividity pattern when her body was moved hours after her death. So you had 'dual pattern lividity.' "
"Ron Reynolds has said he saw his wife alive at four-thirty to five A.M., and he called 911 at six-twenty A.M.," Ferguson began. "Could she have fixed lividity in one hour and twenty minutes?"
"She had to have been dead for at least three hours for that first lividity to become fixed."
"Did the [electric] blanket over her make any difference in the degree of rigor mortis present?"
"No difference. The rigor begins when the muscles no longer have oxygen. The jaw muscles are often first, beginning at two hours."
"Did Ronda Reynolds have gunshot residue on her hand?"
"No way!" Jeffrey Reynolds said emphatically. "She didn't have GSR on her hand as if she'd fired a gun--unless the lab was wrong."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing in evidence shows that Ronda's forefinger was the trigger finger," he added.
"Then your opinion is that this was not a self-inflicted gunshot wound?" Ferguson asked.
"No. In suicides, I have never seen a bullet's path that didn't cross the midline."
"What would you estimate was the time of Ronda Reynolds's death?"
"Four to six hours before she was found. Probably six hours."
That meant Ronda had probably died sometime between twelve-thirty and two-thirty A.M.
JOHN JUSTICE then cross-examined Dr. Reynolds. The doctor was a devastating witness against Terry Wilson's case, but Justice pursued his time-of-death conclusions.
"If there was fixed lividity at seven A.M., what is the minimum time that has elapsed since death?"
"Three or four hours."
That was another repetition of the strongest evidence against Terry Wilson's case, and again it gave the lie to Ron Reynolds's statements. With prodding from Justice, according to Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, Ronda had to have died much earlier than Ron said she did--passing away at 2 or 3 A.M., and not after 6.
Neither side was very forceful when speaking of whether or not there was gunshot residue on Ronda's finger or hand. Lab tests had not detected antimony--which suggested there was no residue.
Except for final arguments, Barbara Thompson's challenge to Coroner Terry Wilson appeared to be over. Everyone in the gallery, the media, and the jurors anxiously waited to hear Wilson's testimony and the position Justice would take to prove that the coroner had not been derelict in his duties.
The jurors had a few more questions before the lunch break on Monday, November 11. They asked to see the photograph of Ronda lying in the bathroom closet, to view the lividity of her legs. They were told they could see all the photos available when they adjourned to deliberate.
"Were her hands bruised--as if she had shot the gun?" another juror asked.
"No."
"Was the drug--Zoloft--or other drugs found in her blood?"
"No."
THERE WAS AN AIR of expectation when the court watchers and participants returned after lunch at 1:30 P.M. as they glanced around looking for Terry Wilson or Carmen Brunton, who would probably both be witnesses.
But Wilson wasn't there. Carmen was, and Donna Wilson and a friend were there on their usual bench behind the defense table.
But when Judge Hicks turned to John Justice and asked him to call his first witness, Justice said he would call no witnesses.
A muted murmur swept the courtroom.
Perhaps it was the wisest move. Terry Wilson wasn't required to prove anything. It was up to Barb Thompson, Royce Ferguson, and their team and witnesses to prove their case. Wilson had already demonstrated that he didn't even have to be in court if he didn't want to. It seemed less likely that he would want to face cross-examination from Ferguson.
But surely Justice had intended to call Carmen. She had been involved in Ronda's case within hours of her death.
No, Justice had no witnesses to call.
The trial was truncated, cut off in its middle. After eleven years, people in Lewis County and many from farther away wanted to know what the coroner had to say, and they had fully expected he would take the witness stand. This hearing was supposed to be an opening door that would lead to Ronda's killer--if, indeed, there was a killer.
Without hearing from either Terry Wilson or Carmen Brunton, how would it end now?
Judge Hicks wasted no time in beginning his instructions for the jurors. After closing arguments, they would retire to deliberate. It had all gone so fast, a river racing by. It was possible that there might be a verdict by evening--or even tomorrow.
The bailiff passed out copies of the Court's rules to the jury. And Judge Hicks explained that it would be their responsibility to decide whether Terry Wilson had been "arbitrary and capricious" in his evaluation of Ronda Reynolds's death--and if he was accurate or inaccurate in his decisions.
He explained to the jury that they should make their choices based on facts supported by evidence that had come out during the trial.
"Your personal opinion shouldn't come in, nor should any testimony that may have been stricken from the record. Consider all the evidence and each witness's testimony. Disregard my opinions--if any. Remember that the lawyers' statements are not evidence.
"Don't let your own emotions overwhelm you. There are two kinds of evidence," Judge Hicks said. "Direct evidence is something a witness has directly perceived; circumstantial evidence is what can be inferred. They both have the same weight in your decisions."
The judge said that an expert witness--such as Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds--may give his or her personal and educated opinions.
"The coroner must decide both the cause and manner of death."
The cause of death is the method used--strangulation, drowning, gunshot, bludgeoning etc. The manner of death could be undetermined, homicide, suicide, intentional intervention of a second or third person, or accidental, among others.
The jurors would have "Exhibit 2"--their copies of the white notebook Barb Thompson had compiled; it had been entered into evidence. However, the judge warned that some of the information there was only opinions of lay-persons.
"Coroner Terry Wilson had this notebook--and determined that Ronda Reynolds's manner of death was suicide. Mrs. Thompson has to prove that wrong--or that Wilson was 'capricious and arbitrary.' "
"You must decide if something is probably more true than not true," Hicks said, "or more likely than not that Coroner Wilson was arbitrary and capricious.
"Don't surrender your honest opinion to other jurors. Memory is more accurate than notes--I told you that when we began. Elect a presiding juror.
"Ten jurors must agree on each question on the form. Each is separate. When all of them are answered, the presiding juror will notify the bailiff that you have a verdict."
No one in the courtroom had realized how close we were to seeing Ronda's case go to the jury.
But first they would listen to final arguments. Although they are rhetoric and opinion and not necessarily facts, these last remarks have been known to sway a jury.
ROYCE FERGUSON began his final argument. "What would Ronda's testimony have been if she was here? Or Ron Reynolds's? He invoked the Fifth Amendment. Terry Wilson is here, but we don't have his opinion."
He asked how the jurors could agree since no else had. And his answer for them was simple. "Common sense."
They needed only to use common sense to evaluate if certain suspects had been there at the crime scene, and to trust their own memories as they considered manner, demeanor, contrary facts, behavior, or testimony of witne
sses. They needed to consider "What's in it for them?"--referring to various persons of interest in this case.
"Could the blanket have been used to wipe off the gun?" he asked, and then answered his own question. "Yes--there was a blanket fiber caught in the gun."
Jerry Berry had seen blood on some of the bullets, Ferguson said, and placed the gun in a glue tank for an hour to preserve any prints there. Then the WSP lab had tested them. Neither Berry nor the state lab criminalists had found any prints on the bullets or the death weapon.
"Terry Wilson didn't go to the scene, talk to the sheriff's staff, or to Barbara Thompson--until 2008," Ferguson submitted. "Evidence was screwed up. Maybe they just got tired of listening to Barb? Ron was the one who first said, 'She must have muffled it with a pillow or something,' and that word--muffled--starts to contaminate the real evidence. The first deputies on the scene focused on a suicide--a gunshot through a pillow.
"Ron Reynolds said that Ronda died sometime between five A.M. and six-twenty, but the double-lividity patterns show that she died before five A.M.--actually sometime between twelve-thirty A.M. and five."
But Terry Wilson had refused to say the latter, and his explanation had been: "I can't say that because that would mean that Ron was guilty."
Odd. Why had Ron received some kind of benediction that kept him safe from prying by the authorities? Yes, he'd hired an attorney, but most persons of interest do. That didn't mean he was impervious to hard questions.
Ferguson suggested that the Lewis County Sheriff's Office wouldn't admit that they didn't have the money or resources to investigate further than they had--so they had decided to call Ronda's death a suicide.
Reminding the jurors often that they had only to apply their own common sense to the evidence, witness statements, and possible motive, Royce Ferguson continued. He said Ron was the sole financial problem Ronda had. She had worked hard, and Ron believed she had life insurance in the amount of $300,000. That would have taken care of all Ron Reynolds's financial obligations--and then some. In truth, of course, Ronda had only $50,000 in life insurance--and her widower had paid the premium on that after she was dead. "He collected that a year later."
And Ron Reynolds had tried to collect the $7,500 Ronda would get when the sale on the Liburdi house closed. (Ronda had meant for that to go to her mother to pay her back for the loan that helped buy the Twin Peaks Drive house.)
Royce spoke of how Ron Reynolds had told deputies he found the gun holster next to the toilet the night of December 15. He said he had asked Ronda about his father's gun. According to him, Ronda said she had given it to David Bell. Ron said he put the holster in the waterbed drawer.
"But the detectives never found that holster. And Mr. Reynolds then said that he put it in the drawer after they left. Two years later, he told Glade Austin he'd been confused."
Some investigators had reported the gun was in Ronda's left hand, others said it was between her hands, and Bob Bishop saw it resting on her forehead. Jerry Berry had seen its imprint there. No one could be sure exactly where it was, because Dave Neiser had removed it, even before clear photographs could be taken.
Judge Hicks called for a break, but few observers left the courtroom. At 3:20, Royce continued his arguments.
"Ron Reynolds gave three different answers about the Black Velvet bottle in the master bedroom when he was asked if Ronda was drinking from it: 'Yes--I noticed she was having a drink'; 'She could have had a drink'; and 'I don't know. The bottle was in the bedroom--I didn't see her drink.'
"He told Glade Austin that he woke up briefly at five-thirty A.M. and he felt that Ronda was there in bed beside him."
The attorney asked the jury how long Ron waited before calling 911. Could he have waited until she bled to death? Why was his wedding ring off, left in the family bathroom, where the steam from a shower hadn't yet dissipated? Why had Ron pushed the snooze button on his alarm clock twice, which extended his sleeping time for thirty-six minutes?
There were twenty-one red flags--and Royce Ferguson went over every one. Nothing matched up or fit properly with physical evidence or some of the statements given.
"Jerry Berry begged his superior officers not to close the case. He begged them to simply suspend it. The HITS team didn't even have a copy of Berry's twenty-one questions."
Who would have the most experience and expertise in determining manner of death? Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, a medical doctor, board-certified in forensic pathology, and who had performed thousands of autopsies--or Terry Wilson, who was a physician's assistant, who hadn't gone to Ronda's death scene or her autopsy?
"Dr. Reynolds told you that it was 'highly improbable' that Ronda had committed suicide. I suggest to you," Ferguson said in finishing, "that the preponderance of the evidence says that Ronda Reynolds was murdered, and that's what I want you to come back with."
JOHN JUSTICE began his final arguments at 3:42 P.M. He had little ammunition. He couldn't go over what his witnesses had said--because neither Terry Wilson nor Carmen Brunton had testified. Justice had presented no expert witnesses to refute Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds's testimony. Indeed, he had called no witnesses at all to the stand.
Justice argued that "nowhere does it say that there are no fingerprints on the gun," referring to one report.
In a sense, Ron Reynolds was on trial, too, although this hearing was about how Wilson had handled Ronda's case. Yes, it was true that Ron had demonstrated little emotion on the morning of Ronda's death, but Justice pointed out that people react to shock and grief in different ways. Some are overemotional and some are stoic, and there are many degrees of observable grief between those extremes.
Justice had one strong area. He referred to the HITS report where homicide detectives with years of experience came to the conclusion that Ronda Reynolds had died by her own hand. Just as the Lewis County Sheriff's Office did. Just as Terry Wilson had.
John Justice spoke for less than thirty minutes. He was between a rock and a hard place. Attacking a mourning and determined mother wouldn't win any points with the jurors. He surely didn't want to bring up why Coroner Wilson hadn't attended Ronda Reynolds's autopsy or why he made it a habit of avoiding death scenes.
AND SUDDENLY the hearing was over. The jurors had their instructions as they retired to deliberate. The day was almost over; in November, it was dark outside. Would they choose their presiding juror and begin to discuss the case right away? Would they ask to have dinner first? Would they want to wait until they'd had a good night's sleep before they began deliberation?
There was no word in the first hour. Or the second.
Nor would there be during the night. What would happen in the morning?
THE USUAL SPECTATORS and media were in Judge Hicks's courtroom early on Tuesday morning, not wanting to miss the jury's return. And they waited, fully aware that it might be days before there was a verdict.
Royce Ferguson filed a motion asking that the jury be polled if Coroner Wilson should be found to be in the wrong. He wanted to know what they thought. If suicide wasn't accurate, could the jurors be asked if they felt the manner of Ronda's death had been homicide or some other answer.
Judge Hicks denied Ferguson's motion. "This is not an inquest. If it were, some testimony or evidence wouldn't have been admitted--and vice versa."
Court broke for lunch. Most of us in the gallery didn't leave. We smelled a verdict in the air--and we were right. The jury sent word at 1:15 P.M. They had reached their verdict.
At 1:32 P.M., the jurors filed in.
The court clerk asked if the jurors had indeed come to a decision on Case Number 062010441, and the presiding juror announced that they had. Since this was a civil procedure, only ten of the jurors needed to agree.
There were three questions that had to be answered satisfactorily:
One: Did Terry Wilson do a good job and make an accurate decision on Ronda Reynolds's manner of death?
The jury's answer was "No."
Two: Was the suicid
e determination inaccurate?
The jury's answer was "Yes."
Three: Was the coroner's office handling of Ronda Reynolds's case "arbitrary and capricious"?
The jury's answer was "Yes."
The jurors then were questioned individually to be sure of their votes.
Barb Thompson, still not sure that she had won after so many frustrating obstacles, watched and listened as every single juror agreed that Wilson had been derelict in his duty and allowed the wrong manner of Ronda's death--the most painful for those who loved her--to stand.
The courtroom was very quiet. Terry Wilson, who had come to court that day, chewed gum steadily and didn't change expression. But his face flushed much more than it had the first day he was present. Then he got up to leave.
Tracy Vedder from KOMO-TV and a team from KIRO-TV had to move fast as Terry Wilson and his entourage exited the courtroom. Tracy, who had worked for years now to help Barb Thompson in her seemingly hopeless quest, held out a microphone and asked, "Are you going to change the death certificate now?"
"I'll do what my lawyers tell me to do," Wilson answered brusquely as he disappeared into a waiting elevator.
Barb was crying--this time with joy. She didn't care if anyone saw her with tears rolling down her face. The first thing she did was grab her cell phone and call Gramma Virginia to tell her about the verdicts. Far away across Washington state, Barb's mother was sobbing, too.
As soon as Barb said goodbye to her mother, she called her son, Freeman, with the amazing news.
Kim Edmundson, a sheriff's lieutenant from Idaho, and one of the many young women whom Barb had "adopted" over the years, had come to the coast with her. She knew how hard it was for Barb to drive with her torn rotator cuff, and she was also afraid for Barb to drive if the hearing had ended in another loss.
The two of them hugged while strobe lights flashed and cell phone and digital cameras captured their happiness.
