Tacoma Jury Sentences Robert Lee Yates Jr. to Death for Killing Melinda Mercer and Connie Ellis
Already serving 408 years for 13 murders under a Spokane plea deal, Yates was condemned by a Pierce County jury that took its first and only vote at noon.
Published
Robert Lee Yates Jr. had admitted 13 murders in a plea deal with Spokane County. Pierce County refused to sign on, and on October 3, 2002, a Tacoma jury sentenced him to death.
The Pierce County Superior Court jury of seven men and five women deliberated for less than five hours, and its first vote, taken at noon, was unanimous. On September 19 the same jury had convicted Yates of the aggravated first-degree murders of Melinda Mercer, 24, in 1997 and Connie LaFontaine Ellis, 35, in 1998. As the decision was read, Mercer's sister kissed a photograph of her. Yates showed no visible reaction, while his father and sister cried.
Yates, a 50-year-old father of five, was already serving a 408-year sentence under his 2000 plea agreement with Spokane County, in which he admitted murdering 13 people since 1975. Ten were women who, like Mercer and Ellis, were working as prostitutes when he met them between 1996 and 1998, after he left the Army and moved his family to Spokane. His National Guard duties as a helicopter pilot brought him to the Tacoma area during those years.
Before the jury began deliberating, Yates spoke to the court. "The world is a frightening place, and I've made it more so for many," he said. "Hundreds of people are hurting and grieving because of my actions." Jurors said afterward that they had searched for a reason to show mercy and found none. "You don't put a man to death every day," one of them said.
The sentence was to be made official on October 9, and his lawyer, Roger Hunko, said he would appeal. The Washington Supreme Court upheld the convictions and the death sentence in 2007.
The Seattle Times spelled the second victim's name Connie LaFontaine Ellis, while the Washington Supreme Court wrote it as Connie Lafontaine Ellis.
Sources
- In re Personal Restraint of Yates, No. 82101-1 (slip opinion), Washington Supreme Court
- Serial killer Yates sentenced to death, The Seattle Times (staff and news services)
Related News
- October 19, 2000: Robert Yates Pleads Guilty to 13 Murders in a Deal That Spares Him Death in Spokane