{"id":58,"date":"2010-04-15T18:00:48","date_gmt":"2010-04-16T01:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=58"},"modified":"2010-04-27T16:35:19","modified_gmt":"2010-04-27T23:35:19","slug":"jury-finds-coroner-erred-in-ruling-former-trooper%e2%80%99s-death-a-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=58","title":{"rendered":"Jury finds coroner erred in ruling former trooper\u2019s death a suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"

For those who visit Lewis County Sirens before it\u2019s launched, we\u2019ve posted one news story you\u2019re sure to find interesting.<\/em><\/p>\n

The following is a comprehensive account, previously unpublished, of last November\u2019s unprecedented judicial review of a county coroner\u2019s decision in Washington state.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the case involving the suspicious death of former trooper Ronda Reynolds in Toledo in 1998.<\/em><\/p>\n

I have been following the case since I first broke the story in The (Centralia) Chronicle in early 2002. I covered last autumn’s\u00a0 proceedings in Lewis County Superior Court for The (Longview) Daily News.<\/em><\/p>\n

The story below was written in November, at the conclusion of the proceedings in Chehalis, which took place over several days.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the future, you\u2019re unlikely to find stories at Lewis County Sirens as lengthy as this. However, enjoy reading about this still unresolved case while you wait for us to begin covering news daily and when it happens of crime, police, fire and courts in greater Lewis County, Washington.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

–Lewis County Sirens reporter Sharyn Decker<\/em><\/p>\n

Sunday Nov. 15, 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Sharyn L. Decker<\/p>\n

CHEHALIS \u2014 Ronda Reynolds, a former state trooper, was preparing to leave her marriage of less than a year to Ron Reynolds, principal of Toledo Elementary School, when she was found fatally shot in the head, on the floor of their walk-in closet, with a turned-on electric blanket covering her.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ronda Reynolds<\/p><\/div>\n

He told authorities he did not hear the gunshot and said he did not know if his 33-year-old wife was right or left handed.<\/p>\n

A badly torn fingernail on otherwise neatly manicured hands and a message written with lipstick on the master bathroom mirror, which read, \u201cI love you, please call me,\u201d followed by her grandmother\u2019s phone number in Spokane, were among the \u201coddities\u201d that moved the lead investigator Jerry Berry to work the case vigorously for five months.<\/p>\n

The Dec. 16, 1998 death was closed as suicide despite protests from Lewis County Sheriff\u2019s Office detective Berry, and within a week after Ron Reynolds\u2019 attorney had threatened to file a lawsuit against the sheriff\u2019s office if they didn\u2019t cease the investigation. <\/p>\n

Lewis County Coroner Terry Wilson changed his determination three times between 1998 and 2002 as the sheriff\u2019s office case was reopened and then closed \u2014 to suicide from undetermined, then back to undetermined, and finally suicide.<\/p>\n

The sheriff\u2019s office had reopened the case to have it reviewed, by a nationally known investigator who concluded it was likely a homicide, and by a division of the Washington State Attorney Generals Office, which indicated it ought to remain designated a suicide.<\/p>\n

More than a decade<\/strong> after her daughter\u2019s demise in Toledo – a small town billed as the gateway to Mount St. Helens – Barb Thompson of Spokane was granted an unprecedented judicial review of the coroner\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

Thompson has worked tirelessly since that December morning to persuade authorities it was either a homicide, or at the least, should be labeled undetermined.<\/p>\n

Nearly everyone involved, including then-Sheriff John McCroskey, has acknowledged mistakes were made. Deputies didn\u2019t check Ron Reynolds hands for gun powder residue, something his attorney said would have cleared him; and his three sons were allowed to leave the Toledo house without being interviewed.<\/p>\n

McCroskey wrote Thompson early on, in mid-2001, \u201cUnfortunately, the only suspect in this case has invoked his rights and has an attorney. We are precluded from speaking with him any further.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first-time use of a so-called judicial review of a coroner\u2019s determination in Washington state opens up \u201cbig questions,\u201d according to Cowlitz County Coroner Timothy Davidson.<\/p>\n

Davidson has been observing what he called a landmark case and will report back to a special meeting of the Washington Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners. He is vice president and a board member of the group.<\/p>\n

The attorneys and even the judge have called the hearings a venture into uncharted territory. Thurston County Superior Court Judge Richard Hicks, who has presided, called it \u201ca different animal that\u2019s ever been seen in the jungle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proceedings are based on a 1987 state statute.<\/p>\n

The law says a county coroner or medical examiner is immune to civil liability for determining cause and manner of death. However, it then ends with one short sentence which says the accuracy of the determinations is subject to judicial review.<\/p>\n

A coroner has five options when choosing the manner of death: homicide, suicide, accidental, natural or undetermined.<\/p>\n

The Lewis County Prosecutor\u2019s Office, which represents Coroner Wilson, fought vigorously since Thompson\u2019s civil suit was first filed in 2006, focusing on the independence of the coroner, \u201cthe nature of whose duties have not changed in centuries,\u201d they argued.<\/p>\n

Thompson initially was denied her bid for review, but a unanimous decision of the Washington Court of Appeals in January 2008 gave her a green light to proceed.<\/p>\n

The review began Nov. 2 <\/strong>in Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis, and was heard by 12 jurors and two alternate jurors.
\nThompson\u2019s attorney, Royce Ferguson of Everett, was blunt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not here to say Ron Reynolds killed her, but we\u2019re going to see that he is a super excellent suspect,\u201d Ferguson told the jury, according to one published account.<\/p>\n

Ron Reynolds didn\u2019t attend the proceedings and didn\u2019t return a phone call made to the elementary school where he works seeking comment.<\/p>\n

Ferguson said he would have like to call Ron Reynolds to the stand, but the Toledo resident \u201cinvoked the fifth,\u201d his right not to testify, Ferguson said.<\/p>\n

Coroner Wilson, a physician\u2019s assistant in Centralia who is serving his seventh four-year term in the elected part-time position, was present only on the first and last day.<\/p>\n

Attorney John Justice, enlisted to help represent Wilson, explained why he didn\u2019t ask the coroner, or anyone else, to testify.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s really nothing more a witness can add, or should add,\u201d Justice said outside the courtroom last week. \u201cThe jury is going to review what the coroner had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justice, whose Tumwater law firm specializes in representing government agencies in civil cases, also said he proceeded differently than if there were monetary damages involved. There were not in this case.<\/p>\n

Had there been, he would have taken depositions from several individuals and perhaps called witnesses, he said.<\/p>\n

Thompson\u2019s attorney didn\u2019t ask Wilson to testify, he said, because he didn\u2019t want to give him a forum, and it wouldn\u2019t necessarily have helped Thompson\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could have if he wanted to, we didn\u2019t prevent him,\u201d Ferguson said.<\/p>\n

Carmen Brunton, the chief deputy coroner for Wilson, who responded to the Ronda Reynolds death scene, attended the autopsy and signed the death certificate, sat next to Wilson\u2019s attorney in court throughout the proceedings. The coroner\u2019s wife, Donna Wilson, was in the audience.<\/p>\n

Both lawyers have said they don\u2019t really know what it would mean if the review concluded the coroner was wrong.<\/p>\n

Among the first witnesses<\/strong> was a close friend of Ronda Reynolds who testified he spent a few hours with her the night before she was found dead and that she was not suicidal.<\/p>\n

David Bell – then and now a police officer in Des Moines, Wash. – told of helping Ronda Reynolds at her home the evening of Friday Dec. 15, 1998, as she prepared to leave her marriage.<\/p>\n

The 53-year-old said he\u2019d known her 10 years, and she had moved into retail security work. They spoke again by telephone, sometime after midnight, he said, and she\u2019d made arrangements to fly to Spokane the following morning.<\/p>\n

In response to an attorney\u2019s question if anything in Ronda Reynolds\u2019 demeanor led him to believe she was suicidal, Bell answered: \u201cAbsolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert Bishop, a Lewis County reserve deputy 10 years ago, testified that at the house that morning he was skeptical about Ron Reynolds\u2019 statements that the closet door could have been closed, based on the position of the body on the floor.<\/p>\n

Former Lewis County sheriff\u2019s detective Berry testified at length about his list of 21 \u201cdiscrepancies\u201d in Ron Reynolds\u2019 and others\u2019 account of events, what he called a cluster of oddities he felt needed to be answered. Ron Reynolds, for example, said his wife had two shots of whiskey the night before her death, but the autopsy showed no alcohol in her system.<\/p>\n

\u201cA real red flag is there were no (finger) prints on the gun,\u201d Berry said.<\/p>\n

Berry said his initial observations of the body suggested Ronda Reynolds had been dead longer than her husband had indicated.<\/p>\n

Ron Reynolds had told deputies he stayed awake in bed with his wife from about 10 p.m. trying to talk her out of suicide until about 5 a.m. when he fell asleep, according to sheriff\u2019s office reports Berry said.<\/p>\n

The first deputy was dispatched at 6:21 a.m. after Ron Reynolds\u2019s call to 911 saying his wife had committed suicide.<\/p>\n

Berry said he arrived about 8:30 a.m. the morning of Dec. 16, 1998, and viewed the scene. She was laying on her left side on the floor, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe blanket was partially grasped in her left hand and completely covered her right hand,\u201d Berry said from the witness stand. \u201cI moved her fingers and there seemed to be a little more rigor mortis than I would have expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berry said Brunton, the chief deputy coroner who responded to the scene, also commented to him there appeared to be more lividity – skin discoloration caused by the settling of blood – than if a person died around 5 a.m. or 5:30 a.m., he told the jury in Lewis County Superior Court.<\/p>\n

It was the large number of unanswered questions that made him skeptical, he said.<\/p>\n

Berry, who eventually left the sheriff\u2019s office in part because of his disagreement with his supervisors about their closure of the case, acknowledged he was demoted and criticized heavily by the sheriff\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went from a praised, stellar employee, to an employee who couldn\u2019t do anything right, overnight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This past spring, Berry released a self-published paperback titled \u201cWhere Murders Walk Free\u201d. The collection of stories includes his take on the Reynolds case without using actual names.<\/p>\n

Firearms expert,<\/strong> Marty Hayes, testified that tests he conducted didn\u2019t support law enforcement explanations of how Ronda Reynolds could have shot herself.<\/p>\n

Hayes, operator of a firearms academy in Onalaska, estimated he\u2019d spent at least 1,000, unpaid, hours assisting Thompson since 2002, when the details of an error-plagued investigation came to light. Because of his law enforcement background, he thought he could make a difference in and help improve investigations in Lewis County, Hayes said.<\/p>\n

Twice since he unsucessfully ran for coroner.<\/p>\n

Some of Hayes\u2019 testimony consisted of him reading aloud some of the reports – enlarged upon an overhead screen for the jury to see – such as the lab test requested by the sheriff\u2019s office to learn if Ronda Reynolds fired a gun; its finding was inconclusive, Hayes read.<\/p>\n

Hayes told the jury he conducted experiments using a gun and ammunition \u201cvirtually\u201d identical to the .32 caliber Rossi long revolver described in the reports. He said his tests weren\u2019t intended to be used in court, but to provide Thompson further information in her quest to get authorities to take a harder look at the death.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just wasn\u2019t logical the gunshot could go through the pillow and then somehow (the gun) came to rest beneath the pillow on her forehead,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>\n

In repeated firing \u201crecoil\u201d tests, Hayes said he was unable to make the gun fall on Reynolds forehead, as depicted by a sandbag type object marked by an \u201cx\u201d. He showed the jury videotapes of his trials.<\/p>\n

Hayes – skeptical of Ron Reynolds report that he did not hear the shot, even though he was asleep in the bedroom outside the closet, about 15 feet away – also put a decibel meter to use.<\/p>\n

The sound of a gunshot at that distance, even muffled by a pillow, measured 83 to 91 decibels, Hayes testified.<\/p>\n

To put that in perspective, Hayes said he found that a television set at full volume measures 65 decibels, an alarm at full volume hit 62 decibels, and a telephone with the ringer turned up all the way measured 72.<\/p>\n

Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, a forensic pathologist who serves Yakima and nine other counties, was the final person to take the stand.<\/p>\n

Dr. Reynolds said he reviewed, at the plaintiff\u2019s request, photographs of the body and authorities reports, including the coroner\u2019s report from Dr. Daniel Selove who performed the autopsy.<\/p>\n

He told the jury he concluded it was \u201chighly unlikely, improbable, this was a suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Reynolds said among his considerations was it takes a minimum of four hours and probably six hours for lividity. It didn\u2019t make sense for lividity to already be fixed by 7 a.m., he testified.<\/p>\n

Under questioning from attorney Justice, he acknowledged he couldn\u2019t point to any record noting lividity was described that way at 7 a.m.<\/p>\n

The spectators in the Chehalis courtroom<\/strong> numbered from as few as a dozen to more than 30 during the five days of court.<\/p>\n

Some audience members were there, they said, because it gave them hope other cases deemed to be suicide might somehow also get another look.<\/p>\n

Among the others were a criminal justice studies student, an Onalaska resident who is editor of a firearms magazine and true crime writer Ann Rule who is authoring a book on the case.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement officers and several bailiffs who work in Lewis County courts sat in, as did retired Centralia police officer Bradd Reynolds.<\/p>\n

Reynolds is no relation to anyone involved in the case, but said he knew every player, except Ronda Reynolds. His curiosity arose in part because he previously worked for eight and a half years as a deputy coroner under Wilson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to hear the facts in the courtroom instead of the rumors we hear over coffee,\u201d he said. \u201cThe people of this community need to know, was this woman murdered? Or did she commit suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Hicks told those in the courtroom <\/strong>after the last witness – outside the presence of the jury – he considered the two attorney\u2019s various proposals to modify the jury instructions in such a way as to accommodate a possible appeal, something he suspected might happen.<\/p>\n

Because it\u2019s the first case heard under the statute, he said, the lawyers \u201cin a way are like two ships passing in the night; they have different theories about the principles that apply here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hicks also explained why the jury heard evidence that Thompson solicited from outside experts beyond the original investigations of the sheriff\u2019s and coroner\u2019s offices.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for the jury to know what the coroner had available,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cWhether he considered it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge also denied Ferguson\u2019s last minute motion to ask the jury to consider labeling the death a homicide, saying there was no legal authority to put that question to the jury.<\/p>\n

Ferguson, in closing remarks on Monday of nearly an hour and three-quarters, told the jury why so much of what they heard – while the case was about the coroner\u2019s accuracy – centered on the sheriff\u2019s office investigation.<\/p>\n

Coroner Wilson didn\u2019t go to the scene or attend the autopsy, the attorney said. The coroner relied upon the sheriff\u2019s office decisions about the manner of death, he asserted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe point being, the blinders were on and the rubber stamping was going,\u201d Ferguson said.<\/p>\n

Justice spoke for less than 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Ferguson can accuse anyone of murder, and he\u2019s done that,\u201d Justice said. \u201cMr. Wilson has to look at facts, not suppositions, not red flags.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justice said it wasn\u2019t logical a person like Ron Reynolds, a school principal who\u2019s never been known to commit violence, would consider such an act.<\/p>\n

The attorney pointed out Ronda Reynolds was depressed, her second marriage was ending.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer friend, Laurie Hull, she told Laurie Hull she wished she could just lay down, go to sleep and not wake up,\u201d Justice said.<\/p>\n

He said the coroner\u2019s work was not easy. He suggested jurors didn\u2019t hear new evidence, but \u201copinion testimony.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not our job to disprove it, it\u2019s their job to persuade you,\u201d Justice said.<\/p>\n

It took the jury about five hours<\/strong> to reach its decision which was announced just after lunch on Tuesday: the Lewis County coroner\u2019s determination that Ronda Reynolds committed suicide in 1998 was inaccurate and \u201carbitrary and capricious,\u201d the panel said.<\/p>\n

The 12-member jury\u2019s verdict was unanimous, though only 10 jurors had to agree in the decision.<\/p>\n

Thompson stayed put in her seat at the plaintiff\u2019s table, sobbing with her back to the crowd.<\/p>\n

Wilson, the coroner, showed no visible reaction to the ruling. He said he had no comment about the verdict except to say \u201cthey told me not to say anything. I have to talk to my lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he would reconsider the manner of death on Ronda Reynolds\u2019 death certificate, Wilson said \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n

The verdict does not indict anyone in the death and its impact on the case remained unclear Tuesday. However, Lewis County Prosecutor Michael Golden, whose office represented the coroner, said it is not legally binding on the prosecution, police or coroner, who has 60 days to appeal.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Thompson, 63, called the jury\u2019s decision a \u201csweet ending.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey believed me and they had the courage to do the right thing,\u201d the Spokane horse breeder said outside the courtroom. \u201cAnd to have it unanimous, I was overwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her lawyer, Ferguson said the verdict \u201cmeans the coroner was wrong when he said suicide and he was arbitrary and capricious, which means no reasonable person would have done it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferguson said the verdict sets the stage for a lot more, possibly an attempt to get the death certificate changed to homicide, and \u201cpossibly a murder investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s attorney, Justice, left the courthouse shortly after the verdict and did not return phone calls requesting comment.<\/p>\n

Jurors were escorted<\/strong> out of the building by sheriff\u2019s deputies. Only one was willing to talk to a news reporter as they departed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe poor girl can rest in peace, and the family can have closure,\u201d said juror Josie Fuss of Pe Ell.<\/p>\n

Fuss said each one of the jurors \u2014 eight women and four men \u2014 looked through the evidence and tried mightily to find some indication of suicide, but they just couldn\u2019t see it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just sad to know we\u2019ve got elected officials that would let something like this be buried,\u201d Fuss said.<\/p>\n

She said there was no conversation in the jury room about murder or homicide, because that wasn\u2019t one of the questions they were directed to address.<\/p>\n

Former detective Berry said he felt vindicated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe citizens saw what I saw, heard what I heard, and now they know,\u201d the 59-year-old private investigator from Mossyrock said outside the courtroom after the decision.<\/p>\n

Golden noted the case \u201cfocused on the conduct of the coroner. At this point, there is no referral to this office for prosecution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield reiterated what he said as the court review began; the hearing\u2019s outcome would not cause him to reopen the investigation.<\/p>\n

Only if there was new and substantial information or if the prosecutor decided to charge someone, would he reopen it, Mansfield said.<\/p>\n

The sheriff said he was frustrated the people didn\u2019t hear a full accounting from the coroner. There was so much information that wasn\u2019t heard, \u201cgood reasons it was ruled a suicide that weren\u2019t brought up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mansfield faulted the strategy used by Coroner Wilson\u2019s attorney.<\/p>\n

Mansfield\u2019s deputies have conducted further examination of the death since he took office in 2005 and it remains a suicide, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came to some of the same conclusions, some for different reasons and some for the same reasons,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Lewis County Sheriff\u2019s Office faces new and different challenges every day, \u201cI can\u2019t go back and correct something I had nothing to do with,\u201d Mansfield said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone should be embarrassed, it\u2019s Jerry Berry, and perhaps he should have been supervised a little better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those who visit Lewis County Sirens before it\u2019s launched, we\u2019ve posted one news story you\u2019re sure to find interesting. The following is a comprehensive account, previously unpublished, of last November\u2019s unprecedented judicial review of a county coroner\u2019s decision in Washington state. It\u2019s the case involving the suspicious death of former trooper Ronda Reynolds in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10],"class_list":["post-58","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-story","tag-by-sharyn-l-decker","tag-news-reporter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions\/72"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}