Darrell Keith Rich

Case name

Darrell Keith Rich

STATUS and sentence overview

Darrell Keith Rich was executed by lethal injection in California on March 15, 2000.

Rich was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder in the July-August 1978 deaths of Annette Fay Edwards, Patricia Ann Moore, Linda Diane Slavik, and Annette Lynn Selix. Three of these convictions were with special circumstances, and a Yolo County jury sentenced Rich to death on January 23, 1981.

Timeline

• Aug. 20, 1978 — Three days before Rich’s arrest, Rich advised a friend that he had discovered a dead body; the friend informed police, and Rich consented to a polygraph and failed.
• December 1980 — The Yolo County jury found Rich guilty of 15 other counts, including rape, sodomy and kidnapping.
• January 23, 1981 — A Yolo County jury sentenced Rich to death.
• June 1999 — As of June 1999, Rich was slated to be the next prisoner to be executed in California.
• March 15, 2000 — Execution by lethal injection began at 12:06 a.m. in San Quentin State Prison’s execution chamber; Rich was pronounced dead at 12:13 a.m.

The offence

Darrell Keith Rich was convicted of murdering Annette Fay Edwards, Patricia Ann Moore, Linda Diane Slavik, and Annette Lynn Selix in the summer of 1978. The victims and acts described included sexual assault and multiple beatings, as well as shooting in the case of Linda Diane Slavik and throwing Annette Lynn Selix from a bridge.

Annette Fay Edwards (female, 19)

Rich attempted to have sex with Annette Fay Edwards after she was beaten with a rock. She died of multiple head injuries.

Patricia Ann Moore (female, 17)

Rich drove Patricia Ann Moore to a remote area, where he raped her and then beat her to death with a rock.

Linda Diane Slavik (female, 26)

Rich drove Linda Diane Slavik from Chico to his house in Cottonwood. She was raped there and then driven to a remote area where she was shot and killed. Just before she was killed, she was shown the dead body of Patricia Ann Moore, killed at the same remote location.

Annette Lynn Selix (female, 11)

Rich drove Annette Lynn Selix to his Cottonwood house, where he committed acts of rape, sodomy and oral copulation. He then drove her about 30 miles to Johns Creek Bridge and threw her 105 feet to the rocks below.

Investigation

Three days before Rich’s arrest, Rich advised a friend that he had discovered a dead body. The friend informed police officers, who began questioning Rich. Rich consented to a polygraph and failed, leading authorities to believe he knew more about the bodies than he was revealing.

Several days later, Rich began telling acquaintances that he received $7,000 for killing one of the women. When he was asked about the other body, he responded that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Authorities were informed of these revelations, and this resulted in Rich’s arrest.

Rich later confessed to the crimes listed above along with two others. He gave police officers his gun and provided detailed information regarding the offences.

Arrest and detention

The information leading to arrest included the failed polygraph and Rich’s later statements to acquaintances about payment and the circumstances of one death.

Trial

Rich was tried in Yolo County following a change of venue. A Yolo County jury convicted him of four counts of first-degree murder and also found him guilty of 15 other counts, including rape, sodomy and kidnapping.

Rich’s trial outcomes included the jury’s death sentence, along with findings with special circumstances.

During sentencing, the jury initially returned to the courtroom hung, but was instructed by the judge to continue deliberations. The next day the jury returned with a sentence of death.

Sentencing

A Yolo County jury sentenced Rich to death on January 23, 1981.

Appeals

Rich’s appeals on the death sentence itself were exhausted weeks earlier, and the only remaining hope to stay alive was a Supreme Court appeal.

A panel of three circuit judges rejected defense arguments that a federal trial judge in Sacramento should have let them investigate the way Rich was prosecuted. The defense lawyers claimed the prosecution violated Rich’s rights by systematically excluding American Indians from the grand jury that indicted him. The federal appeals court refused to review the death sentence.

Outcome

Rich was executed by lethal injection in California on March 15, 2000.

Execution details (March 15, 2000)

At 12:06 a.m., March 15, 2000, the execution by lethal injection of Darrell Keith Rich began in San Quentin State Prison’s execution chamber. Rich was pronounced dead at 12:13 a.m.

Rich declined a last meal and drank tea, broth and Gatorade until his execution. He spent his last hours with his spiritual advisors and his attorneys. His last word was “Peace.”

During the execution, a solution of sodium Pentothal was pumped into Rich’s veins to render him unconscious. Fifty cubic centimeters of pancuronium bromide was then injected to paralyze his diaphragm and stop his breathing, followed by an intravenous jolt of 50 cubic centimeters of potassium chloride to paralyze his heart. Throughout the execution, Rich lay with his eyes closed. He swallowed once, his cheeks seemed to bulge, and then in the final moments his face turned slightly purple. The feather quivered as he drew his last breath.

Background and prior record

Rich had a history of progressive violence since age 16. He was described as a heavy drinker from the time he was in his mid-teens up to his arrest in August 1978.

Rich was first arrested at age 17 for assault with a deadly weapon and was sent to the California Youth Authority at age 19.

Additional trial and legal context included in the record

Rich was diagnosed with a history of head trauma, neurological deficits, and “intermittent explosive disorder,” described as a mental illness involving sudden fits of rage followed by periods of deep remorse. Rich’s defense included a mental condition plea, and he pleaded innocent by reason of insanity.

The Moore killing was ruled to be second-degree murder in some legal discussion included with the record.

Rich’s 1981 trial was moved to Yolo County because of extensive news coverage in Shasta County.

Rich’s lawyers claimed his trial was tainted by financial pressures placed by county supervisors on his public defender, allegedly hampering his representation.

Other details

Rich was described as calm as he awaited the end, and had spent the past several days fasting in accordance to what he saw as spiritual penance. The prison was in lockdown during Rich’s final day. At 6 p.m. he was moved to a cell near the death row office, where he was strip-searched and scanned with a metal detector. Just before he was escorted to a “death watch” cell a few feet away from the execution chamber, Rich received a new outfit: a blue shirt, blue jeans, undershirt, shorts, socks and hospital slippers.

Rich sought to have his lawyers file last-minute appeals requesting court action to force the prison to let their client participate in an American Indian sweat lodge ceremony to make spiritual atonement. The prison refused to allow Rich into the sweat lodge because administrators believed the activity posed too great a security risk. Conducting a ceremony at the lodge required several hours, and the use of hot rocks and a shovel would have had too much potential for violence.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued the final rejection at about 8:30 o’clock the prior night.

After the execution date was set, McGregor Scott, the Shasta County district attorney, said: “This is a day that has been long in coming for the citizens of Shasta County,” “This man wreaked havoc over the course of 1978. There is no one more deserving of the death penalty than Darrell Keith Rich.”

Annette Edwards’ sister Peggy Eastwood said in a statement after the execution: “It was too easy for Darrell Rich after what he put us through for 22 years.”

Annette Selix’s aunt, Linda Hines, said: “We’ve been unjustly sentenced to 22 years of hell,” “Please, please, put all of us out of our much-prolonged misery.”

Mike Yates, whose sister, Linda Slavik, was murdered by Rich, said the case had meant “22 years of legalized torture” for his family.

Sharon Tidwell, Annette Selix’s mother, said: “I’m just glad it has come to this and that it’s finally going to be over,”

Annette Selix’s stepfather, David Tidwell, said: “We’re wasting time -- just kill him. He better pray there’s not a life after death -- if there is, he better hide.”

A woman who survived an attack by Rich sobbed, her hand pressed over her face, as a victim’s rights coordinator read her written statement to the board. The woman wrote: “We are never alone. Darrell Rich is always there between us,”

The woman’s written statement also described how she had pleaded with Rich for her life, begging him to spare her for the sake of her baby daughter, and described how the attack haunted her life, reaching into her dreams and shadowing her relationship with her husband.

California Deputy Attorney General Carlos Martinez called the sweat-lodge argument a ruse, saying: “He’s just trying to delay the execution, and to do so would be really cruel to the families of his victims,”

A 53-year-old Chippewa from Sacramento, Fred Short, who led a group of 20 Apache, Yaqui and Chippewa people to the gates, said: “I’m here not only to pray when he leaves, but also because all of us here think all life is sacred,”

Upon Rich’s death being announced, the crowd fell silent.

Rich was described as having 14-inch, ritual white feather with black edges draped on his chest during the execution, and he was strapped onto a gurney as a solution and drugs were administered.

In addition to relatives of victims, 5 relatives of his victims and 1 of 5 other women he sexually assaulted held hands during the execution. The only sound in the execution chamber was the uncontrollable coughing of one witness. Christopher Slavik, whose mother Linda was killed by Rich, watched dressed in a black suit with a dark tie covered in white skulls, allowed himself a small smile when Rich was declared dead.

Bob Martinez, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections, was associated with the statement that Rich’s final word was “Peace.”

Victims (count and identities)

Rich’s convicted murders involved 4 victims: Annette Fay Edwards (female, 19), Patricia Ann Moore (female, 17), Linda Diane Slavik (female, 26), and Annette Lynn Selix (female, 11).