Rachelle Waterman

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Rachelle Ann Monica Waterman, aka smchyrocky, (born August 26, 1988) is a teenage girl from Craig, Alaska who was charged with the first degree murder of her mother - though her trial resulted in a hung jury 10-2 in favour of acquittal, and a mistrial was subsequently declared. The case received a wide following on the Internet, partly because Waterman kept a public record of her thoughts and activities on LiveJournal.

Contents

[edit] Biography and family background

Born on August 26, 1988, Waterman showed an interest in acting, computers, movies and music, and was an honor roll student, involved in many extra-curricular activities, including choir, volleyball, and Academic Decathlon team. She was well-accomplished and won prizes in each of these endeavors.

[edit] Case history

Rachelle Waterman was accused of conspiring with Jason Arrant and Brian Radel, both 24, to murder Waterman's then-48-year-old mother. Both Arrant and Radel pleaded guilty to first degree murder, in exchange for all other charges being dropped; they agreed to testify for the prosecution as part of their plea-deal.

Arrant and Radel murdered Lauri Waterman, using a blunt object, shortly after midnight local time on November 14, 2004. They then burnt the Plymouth minivan in which the body was carried in an attempt to destroy the evidence.

No motive for the crime has yet been suggested by the police or the prosecutors. In her online journal, she often mentioned arguments with her mother, and sometimes referred to her mother as the "female parental unit".

[edit] Police investigation

Alaska State Trooper Lt. Rodney Dial stated that a hunter discovered Lauri Waterman's body and her burnt-out van, while driving on Forest Service Road 3012, a remote logging road, early in the afternoon of Sunday November 14, 2004.

On Saturday, November 20, 2004, Trooper Robert Claus stated:

During ... interviews all three made admissions as to their involvement in the murder. Physical evidence recovered at the various crime scenes corroborated many of the defendants' statements ... Radel, Arrant and Waterman have been charged with murder in the first degree. Due to the severity of the charges, Waterman has been waived into adult court. Additional charges of solicitation, conspiracy, tampering with physical evidence and other charges are pending. Arrant and Waterman will be arraigned in the District Court in Craig this morning.

[edit] Arraignment

On Saturday, November 20, 2004, Waterman appeared in Craig District Court, dressed in an orange CCJF jumpsuit, for arraignment on the charges. Waterman and her alleged co-conspirators, Jason Arrant and Brian Radel, faced a 10-count felony indictment.

A report in the Ketchikan Daily News stated that "[t]he first seven counts of the indictment allege that all three defendants committed the crimes of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder; first-degree murder; second-degree murder; kidnapping; first-degree burglary; first-degree vehicle theft and tampering with physical evidence."

Magistrate Kay Clark presided over the arraignment and set bail at $150,000. Clark also appointed a public defender to represent Waterman, who was sent to the Lemon Creek Correctional Center in Juneau.

[edit] The trial

Waterman pled not guilty. Juneau Superior Court Judge Patricia Collins was assigned as the trial judge. While the date of February 3, 2005 was initially scheduled for the trial, the proceedings were postponed until August 22 a few days before the original date to conduct an evidentiary hearing. A new trial date was set and the trial was to start in Craig, Alaska. A few days before trial was to start the case was moved to Juneau. Jury selection began on January 23, 2006.

Arrant and Radel pleaded guilty to first degree murder in June 2005, in exchange for the dismissal of all other charges against them. They testified against Waterman at her trial as part of their plea bargain [1].

Waterman's court-appointed attorney for the trial was Assistant Public Advocate Steven Wells. Assistant District Attorney Daniel Schally was initially assigned, although became a state judge and was replaced by Steven West.

On February 14, 2006 the jury came back after 5 days of deliberations and told Judge Collins that they were deadlocked and unable to reach an unanimous verdict. The judge then declared a mistrial. The next day it was revealed that the jury voted 10-2 in favor of acquit. Judge Collins set to hear a motion to listen to arguments for an acquittal on March 7, 2006 [2].

On March 7, 2006, Judge Collins dismissed all charges against Waterman, ruling that Waterman's videotaped testimony on the day of her arrest, the main reason for her indictment, was coerced. She later upheld her decision on 20 March 2006, in response to a prosecution motion to re-consider her earlier decision. The state said they planned to appeal the decision to the state appeal court.

[edit] Online journal

The case became well-known on the Internet, because before the alleged crime Waterman had maintained a public journal on the widely-read LiveJournal web site. The last entry, which has since been removed from public view, was posted on November 18, 2004 and read:

Just to let everyone know, my mother was murdered. I won't have computer acess [sic] until the weekend or so because the police took my computer to go through the hard drive. I thank everyone for their thoughts and e-mails, I hope to talk to you when I get my computer back.

A diverse group of users, both friends and strangers, have posted over 7,000[3] comments on the journal, positive and negative, transforming the case into an Internet phenomenon dubbed the LiveJournal murderer.

The journal's account is currently in an owner-invoked "pending deletion" status - if its owner doesn't change her mind within 30 days, the journal and all of its content is permanently deleted.

[edit] Incarceration

Rachelle Waterman embraces her father after her father posted bail and she was released
Enlarge
Rachelle Waterman embraces her father after her father posted bail and she was released

Waterman was formerly incarcerated at the Lemon Creek Correctional Facility in Juneau, Alaska. She signed an agreement to be placed into the general population. Corrections Deputy Commissioner Portia Parker indicated that Waterman "is an adult in the eyes of the law." Rachelle's father posted her bail on the morning of March 8, 2006. She is currently in his custody. [4]

Alaska law places persons charged with first-degree murder at the age of 16 or older in the adult court system, and most of the records concerning this case are open to the public for inspection.

[edit] Psychological analysis

When interviewed in late November, 2004 by Anchorage television station KTUU about the nature of online journals, forensic psychologist Susan LaGrande commented that "[i]t's such an anonymous vehicle that you can be whoever or say whatever you want. You don't have all the responsibilities that are inherent in a face-to-face real, legitimate relationship." This same report pointed out that Waterman had mentioned suicide in her online journal.

[edit] References

[edit] Waterman on LiveJournal

[edit] Police report on the case

[edit] Press reports about the case

[edit] Press reports which mention the case within a larger context

[edit] Scholastic affiliations

[edit] External links

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