His murder trial has not yet begun.
Seattle's Brother Curtis Thompson is ready to go door-to-door
by Nathan Natas 13 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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drwtsn32
This guy was a JW?
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shopaholic
drwtsn32, I had the same question. Here's what I found:
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minimus
There's gotta be some mistake. Brother Thompson clearly has a Jehovah's Witness Sears suit . His hair, his shoes, his tie is completely 100% good Jehovah's Witness. This HAS to be a case of mistaken identity.
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Nathan Natas
"You scared to death, ain't you punk?"
Crime-spree suspect Thompson starts trial by lunging at lawyer
Curtis S. Thompson, a sexually violent felon accused of a crime spree of rape, assault and homicide after a King County jury released him in 2003, faced his second of third trials on Tuesday.By Sharon Pian Chan
Seattle Times staff reporter
MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES
On the first day of his trial for the 2004 rape of an Eastlake woman, Curtis S. Thompson was wheeled into court Tuesday tightly bound at his chest, wrists and ankles into a restraint chair. He had made previous death threats against attorneys and a judge, and had attacked jail officers on the way to an earlier court hearing, prompting the extreme security measures.
The restraints did not stop Thompson from lunging at his attorney John Hicks as he was wheeled out of a courtroom during a break, shouting, "You scared to death, ain't you punk?"
Thompson's outburst came during the second of an expected three consecutive King County Superior Court trials in connection with a crime spree that included the Eastlake rape, assault and homicide after a King County jury released him in 2003. In the trial that started Tuesday, the 49-year-old Seattle man is accused of breaking into the apartment of an Eastlake woman on Aug. 17, 2004, and raping her, then pouring and rubbing bleach into her body to destroy any DNA evidence.
In October, Thompson was found guilty of assaulting two women near the University of Washington a week after the Eastlake rape. In that incident, Thompson cornered two women in an apartment elevator, robbed one of her engagement ring and forced the other to remove her top.
He has not been sentenced yet, but faces life in prison. He is scheduled to face a third trial on March 2 in connection with the murder of Deborah S. Byars, 45, who police believe was stabbed to death with a screwdriver in her apartment on 40th Avenue Northeast. Her body was found on Aug. 26, three days after the two women were assaulted near the UW.
Senior deputy prosecuting attorney Scott O'Toole began his opening statement in Tuesday's trial with the words the 29-year-old Eastlake woman said to her attacker the night she was raped: "Please don't kill me. I'm not ready to die."
Hicks, the defense attorney, said he was not sure whether the defense would present an opening statement.
According to O'Toole, Thompson pried back the screen on an open window and got into the apartment on Minor Avenue East at 2 a.m. The woman awoke as Thompson was trying to smother her, prosecutors say. Thompson then raped her several times, according to O'Toole.
"He whispered in her ear, 'What's a pretty girl like you doing alone? Why don't you have a boyfriend?' " O'Toole told the jury.
At one point, Thompson ordered her to place her hands behind her back, O'Toole said. The victim then grabbed a bedside lamp and hit him. Thompson, 6-feet-2 and 175 pounds, overpowered her and tied her wrists with the lamp cord and her ankles with a belt from her closet, according to O'Toole. He raped her again several times, O'Toole said.
He then gathered up the bed sheets and took them to the apartment building's laundry room and started the washing machine, O'Toole said. When he came back, the woman could hear liquid being poured in the apartment. She feared it was lighter fluid and that Thompson would set the place on fire, O'Toole said.
When she felt the liquid being poured and rubbed into her, she realized it was bleach, according to O'Toole.
Thompson was not able to get rid of all the evidence though, O'Toole said. DNA found on the victim matched Thompson's DNA, he said. Blood from the broken light bulb as well as fingerprints on the lamp and the window screen also matched Thompson's, O'Toole said.
Thompson was convicted of four rapes in 1985.
In October 2003, when he was completing an 18-year sentence for the crimes, a King County jury rejected a plea from prosecutors to send Thompson to a secure treatment center for sexual offenders and ordered him released. It was a rare release — sexually violent predators are usually sent to the state's Special Commitment Center after incarceration.
Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or [email protected].
Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.
Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company
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minimus
He's a violent killer/ rapist. Can you imagine what must've gone through his brain when he went from door-to-door?
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undercover
Damn... all he needs is Hannibal Lector's face mask.
How'd you like this guy to be wheeled to your door? "I've got a nice Chianti and some fava beans to go with that Watchtower..."
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undercover
And here's the really sad part...
Because this guy, or any other perp with a past, pulls a con job and declares himself a changed man through the JW faith (or any faith, for that matter), JWs will stand up and defend this guy. And they won't think twice about this guy going in service - if he were to be freed and allowed to by the courts.
I've known a couple of similar situations, though not to this degree, where a guy with a shady past was welcomed with open arms by the congregationa and allowed to mix freely with members of the congregation. I remember not trusting one guy and said as much to several people and I'm the one that got reprimanded for being so distrustful. It was hard to not say "I told you so" when the guy took advantage of people in the congregation and absconded with some money. Oh well... a fool and his money are soon parted...
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Nathan Natas
Undercover, you are precisely correct. When Thompson was first apprehended the local Dubs and their "spirit-appointed" elders were falling all over themselves to speak up on his behalf with reporters and the court.
"He's been having a Bible Study with us for one whole hour every week. He doesn't need psychologists. Don't incarcerate him; don't execute him; don't castrate him. He read all the right answers out of the book. His use of gestures in the Theocratic Ministry School was excellent. He wants to share this life-giving good news with his neighbors. He sold four magazines last month," they told the jury.*
Unfortunately, Seattle is filled with a general population of well-meaning, simple-minded nincompoops who allowed themselves to be swayed to give this "religious" sociopath his freedom, and he was assaulting people again less than one month later. Where are those asshole elders today? Providing their "bible-based" wisdom to others, no doubt.
I would like to see him hang, or be shot, or electrocuted, or provided with a lethal injection, or all four. He can't be too dead for my money.
* I was not privy to the actual testimony. It was probably even more stupid than this fictionalized account.
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rebel8
+1
I would like to see him hang, or be shot, or electrocuted, or provided with a lethal injection, or all four. He can't be too dead for my money.
* I was not privy to the actual testimony. It was probably even more stupid than this fictionalized account.
On a serious note, that article was so sick I had to stop reading.......right around the bleach thing. He is not "just" a sex offender. He's an extremely violent one. And unrepentant.
No worries Nate. He'll probably be tortured and murdered in prison. They don't like the perverts up in there. *tiny little violin plays*