Mother sentenced to
17.5 months for run-in with daughter’s alleged molester
Rachel Cavanaugh
News Editor
A Klickitat woman, who was accused of rioting and burglary after a neighbor allegedly molested her daughter, was sent to prison last week.
The crimes – which family said were a retaliation for her daughter’s sexual assault - took place in June of 2006.
On Monday, Oct. 20, Judge Tom Reynolds, of Klickitat-Skamania County Superior Court, upheld a sentence to send Lisa Risley to prison for 17.5 months.
The ruling came after more than two years of appeals.
“The system, although we might not always agree with the outcome, works,” said Judge Reynolds. “I’ve heard nothing today that would change that…I’m going to impose the original sentence.”
A series of yells broke out in the courtroom following the order—mostly from family members, and Risley’s mother, Nancy Newton, cried that it “isn’t justice.” On the way out of the courtroom, a group of about a dozen friends and family formed a line, offering tear-filled hugs before officials took Risley.
According to Risley’s daughter, Ashley Simpson, a Klickitat man named Norman Wethered molested her and two friends at a sleepover two years ago.
The three girls came forward shortly afterwards and Wethered was arrested. However, he was out on bail a few days later and, according to Newton, drove by the house yelling profanities.
Newton said the hollers provoked Simpson’s brother, Casey, 16, and cousin, Joaquin Sabedra, 20, to grab a baseball bat and head to Wethered’s parents home. Risley and her husband, Larry, followed minutes later, and witnesses said the group assaulted both Norman and his parents.
Wethered has long maintained his innocence in the molestation charges and said he never shouted anything. On the contrary, he said he is the victim in this situation.
He said Risley falsely accused him of being a registered sex offender and got the town riled up while he was in jail. When he came home, he said, he was greeted by a mob of about 30 people.
“They were all saying they were going to kill me,” said Wethered. “My mom opened up the door and Larry was standing there…They were all yelling, ‘get out here…we’re going to kill you.’”
Wethered’s mother, Luella, 72, was struck in the face with a baseball bat, in an attempt to hit Norman. Wethered was hit several times and suffered injuries to his face.
“I couldn’t see out of one eye,” said Wethered. “I had bruises and contusions all over my body. I was stomped, kicked - I had footprints all over me.”
The three men involved in the assault - Casey Simpson, Joaquin Sabedra, and Larry Risley – pled guilty to various charges and served time on plea bargains However, Lisa Risley pled innocent and chose to go to trial.
A jury convicted her of rioting and first-degree burglary, and she was sentenced to 17.5 months.
Newton said the reason Risely was convicted was that the motive wasn’t allowed and the jury never knew about the molestation.
Prosecutor Tim O’Neill said allowing the information would have prejudiced the jury against Wethered. The charges, he said, should not have had bearing on the assault case.
“They wanted to say, ‘well, he got what he deserved,’ but no, you don’t take the law into your own hands,” said O’Neil. “When there’s a vigilante crime like this it’s important…the jury understands what the law is.
“Mr. and Mrs. Risley are not the victims of these crimes.”
Wethered has all along sworn his innocence and passed a polygraph test, commonly known as a “lie detector.”
However, Newton said there is no question about what Wethered did and both her daughter and granddaughter have been robbed of justice.
She said it is an outrage that he has never served time.
Two of the molestation charges against him were dropped due to inconsistencies in the girls’ stories. The third was reduced to assault with sexual intent. For this, Wethered received 6 months in jail, two years of probation, and a $400 fine.
He has appealed and so far, has not spent time in jail, except for right after the incident.
Craig Juris, who prosecuted the case, said he has never had a doubt about Wethered.
“I was convinced it happened and am still absolutely convinced of Norman Wethered’s guilt.”
Yet Wethered has said the opposite:
“These girls…they butchered me,” he said. “I didn’t do anything.”
“They said I tried to offer them cigarettes – I don’t smoke. They said I tried to offer them alcohol – I took beer away from them. It was only when I got out of jail I started to hear bits and pieces of what they said happened.”
Meanwhile, Ashley Simpson has begun trying to move on with her life, but said it is difficult, especially with her mom in prison now.
“This whole thing has ruined my life,” said Ashley. “I just don’t get it…I regret telling now.”
Newton, who has spent the last two years helping appeal the sentence, said she is out of resources.
“As a mother you always think you’re always able to fix things for your kids,” said Newton, in tears. “Then you get into a position like this where you can’t do anything to help them and that is a terrible, terrible thing to go through. All we do is hold each other and cry.”
Wethered estimates a verdict on his appeal within six months.
Electoral College voting for you
An election report by
Andrew Christiansen
Much is made about the Electoral College, as if it were some latter day invention to subvert the will of the population during presidential elections. In fact, the U.S. Constitution created the term electors, and the name Electoral College first appearing in the early 1800’s to describe the group of electors.
All elections have been decided by electors, not the direct popular vote, since the first election of George Washington. There have been four elections where the winner had less than the runner-up in the popular vote, but won on the basis of electoral votes.
John Quincy Adams not only was defeated in the popular vote, but also was out-voted 99-84 by the Electoral College…yet he won in 1824. He won because Jackson was short of the majority of the 261 electoral votes, sending the election into the House of Representatives where state delegations voted 13 to seven in favor of Adams (William Crawford received three votes). The Constitution requires the House of Representatives to vote for president and the Senate to vote for vice president when no winner is declared by Electoral College vote.
So how does the Electoral College work? Political parties select people to represent their candidate in the election. Each state gets one elector per congressional district plus two senators. Since Washington has nine districts and two senators, Washington has 11 electors. When you vote for president, you are also voting for those electors.
On Dec. 15, those electors will gather in their respective states and cast their votes for president and vice president. There are 24 states, including Idaho, that have no legal requirement for the electors to vote in accordance with the popular vote in that state. Washington and Oregon are among the states where electors are legally bound to vote for the candidate they represent.
On Jan. 15, Congress will read the results of the Electoral College vote, which will make our election final, assuming there is a majority winner and there are no challenges. The election of 1876 had such a challenge, when Rutherford B. Hayes apparently defeated Samuel Tilden 185 to 184. The votes of four states were disputed and Congress referred the election to the Electoral Commission who upheld the selection of Hayes. Tilden had won the popular vote in that election.
Others who won the popular vote and lost the election were Grover Cleveland (to Benjamin Harrison), and Al Gore (to George W. Bush). It is also noteworthy that independent candidates, John B. Anderson (1980) and H. Ross Perot (1992) received 6.7 percent and 19 percent of the popular vote, respectively, and received zero Electoral College votes.
Klickitat selected as a School of Distinction
Klickitat Elementary and Secondary School is among 98 schools to receive designation as a “2008 School of Distinction.” The award was announced by Dr. Terry Bergeson on Oct. 22, during ceremonies at Roosevelt High School in Seattle. Klickitat was among 10 schools in the ESD 112 region to receive the award via Washington State’s K-20 video conferencing network in Vancouver.
At the awards presentation, Dr. Bergeson said, “Students and teachers and schools continue to make incredible progress.” She went on to say, “this award celebrates the real gains these schools have made, gains that aren’t recognized by the federal No Child Left Behind law or its ‘Adequate Yearly Progress’ calculations.”
To be considered for the award, each school had to exceed the state average performance in fourth through seventh or 10th grade reading and math, as measured by the spring 2008 Washington Assessment of Student Learning.
Schools that met the average performance requirements were then evaluated for WASL performance during the last six years. Results in grades four, seven and 10 were evaluated because those are the only grade levels with six years of trend data. The top five percent of elementary, middle and high schools, as well as alternative schools, were given awards.
School leaders from each of the winning schools were presented with a plaque and a large banner reading “School of Distinction – 2008 State Superintendent’s Learning Improvement Award.” |
