SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER - Tuesday, May 15, 2001

Jury chooses death sentence for Cross -
Mental illness defense can't save triple murderer

By TRACY JOHNSONT welve jurors agreed Dayva Cross' depression did nothing to explain the brutal murders of his new wife and her teenage daughters, concluding yesterday that he deserves to die.The 41-year-old Snoqualmie man will join 11 other murderers on Washington's death row, a place King County juries seldom send anyone.Dayva Cross is wheeled into court yesterday, where he heard a jury sentence him to death for the slayings of his wife and her two daughters. Gilbert W. Arias / Seattle Post-IntelligencerClick for larger photo "Off to ... Disneyland now," Cross announced cheerily as he was wheeled out of the courtroom. "Anyone want to come with me?"The nine men and three women who deliberated Cross' fate for nearly three days were sharply divided last week, but they slowly reached the unanimous decision that his life should not be spared."The bloodiness of the killings was extreme. The innocence of the victims was incredible," said jury foreman Scott Baumann, 54, of Bellevue."The fact that he could have had a marital spat was bad -- but the fact that the other girls had to suffer was inexcusable."He said the jurors spent long hours talking about Cross' mental problems and decided they weren't serious enough to warrant mercy."Depressed people commit suicide," he said. "It is not an excuse for homicide."Last fall, Cross formally admitted stabbing to death his wife, Anouchka Baldwin, 37, and two of her daughters, Salome Holly and Amanda Baldwin. His attorneys, Mark Larranaga and Richard Warner, were left trying to persuade a jury to let him live his life behind bars.Yesterday's verdict stunned the lawyers, who say Cross suffered from severe depression and delusions long before the March 1999 slayings.Larranaga said he couldn't understand how Cross' mental problems didn't sway even one juror, or how the panel concluded that execution was necessary for a man who would almost certainly spend a life prison sentence in a wheelchair.Amanda Baldwin "He didn't know what happened at first. He kept asking me what it meant," Larranaga said later. "I turned and told him, 'They just voted to execute you,' and he just had a blank stare."He believes Cross cares what happens, despite the man's non-chalance and his repeated profane outbursts in the courtroom.The former truck driver, who has a heart-shaped tattoo bearing the word "myself," never gave his lawyers any hint that he wanted to die.But prosecutors told jurors last week that the murders "scream out for such a sentence.""This type of case is not a 'win-lose,'" Deputy Prosecutor Tim Bradshaw said yesterday. "No pleasure should be taken from such a verdict. Rather, this is the strong voice of the community." "Given the circumstances of the case, I couldn't see how they could have reached any other decision," said King County Sheriff's Detective Jim Doyon, who said he couldn't imagine the terror each victim had to endure.Those close to the slain family, including a woman forced to grieve the loss of her daughter and two granddaughters, declined to discuss Cross' fate. The man's own relatives in Pennsylvania weren't there to hear the verdict.Salome Holly His adult son and daughter took the witness stand in recent weeks, telling jurors of a fun-loving father who took them on trips between his frightening plunges into depression. He used to cover the windows of his house with blankets, then sulk in the darkness or mumble to himself.A sentencing date could be set as soon as next week, though the law gives Judge Joan DuBuque no discretion about what to impose.Cross destroyed a family on March 6, 1999, ending three lives and leaving the youngest daughter to live with the indelible horror. He left students at Mount Si High School mourning the loss of a senior and a freshman.Holly was an aspiring marine biologist who was studying hard to get into a good college. At 18, she was just about to graduate. Prosecutors say she was running through the family's small rambler when Cross stabbed her repeatedly. He attacked her again before she reached the door.Amanda Baldwin was a petite 15-year-old with a flair for the dramatic and a distinctive laugh. She tried frantically to lock Cross out of the bedroom she shared with her younger sister, Mellissa Baldwin. He knocked the door off its hinges and stabbed her, then ignored her cries for help.The sisters had the dark hair and eyes of their mother, who often held more than one job at a time to provide for them and for her husband of less than a year. She was the first to die, following an argument with Cross. The last words Mellissa heard from her mother were, "What are you going to do, kill me?" followed by screams, then silence.Cross held 13-year-old Mellissa captive in his bedroom for hours, dragging her out to the kitchen occasionally so he could get more wine. She ran out of the house when he finally fell asleep.Police arrived at the home to find the three victims covered with blankets. Cross was slumped on his bed, smoking a cigarette. Cross later hurt himself in a bizarre suicide attempt in the King County Jail. He packed his nose and throat with mattress stuffing, toilet paper and cornbread from his lunch, then slammed himself headfirst into walls and the floor.He fractured his skull and broke a vertebra in his neck. Doctors say he will need to use a walker if he ever walks again.Mellissa is now 15. Her father died in a car crash when she was 2. She was recently adopted by her best friend's parents, who have watched Cross' sentencing hearing every day and have struggled to control their emotions.King County juries are typically reluctant to sentence anyone to die. Prosecutors have asked for the ultimate punishment 17 times, and jurors have imposed it just five times.Four of those defendants were given reprieves from higher courts. Cal Brown, convicted of torturing and killing a young Burien woman, is the only King County defendant who still faces execution.The state Supreme Court denied his appeal last month.The high court will review Cross' case as it does every time a jury calls for execution.He may also appeal the verdict in the federal court system in a process that takes years.