Spokane Court To Get X-Ray Case Inmates File Suit Seeking Damages For Cold War Fertility Experiments

A federal lawsuit on behalf of prisoners who participated in a radiation experiment at Washington State Penitentiary will be heard in Spokane.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly of Seattle has ruled the case a class action.

Zilly consolidated a complaint by former inmate Robert E. White of Seattle with a similar suit by Donald Byers of the Airway Heights Corrections Center and Donald Kreitz of Rathdrum, Idaho.

That clears the way for plaintiffs’ attorneys to represent all of the 64 men whose testicles were bombarded with X-rays in the Cold War tests, as well as their surviving family members.

As part of the venue motions, a list of the inmate volunteers was made public for the first time. It indicates 22 of the men are dead, one escaped and disappeared, four are still behind bars and 36 are free, with 25 living in Western Washington. The status of one is unknown.

Attorneys for the prisoners said the case should be heard in Seattle, home to many of the ex-inmates and the man who experimented on them, Dr. C. Alvin Paulsen, a University of Washington Medical School professor.

Attorneys for the defendants wanted it moved to Eastern Washington.

Zilly ruled the case should be heard where the alleged civil rights violations took place, not where the tests were planned or administered.

“No tort or civil rights violation occurred until the defendants carried out their experiments on the inmates at Walla Walla,” Zilly wrote.

The 1960s experiments were paid for by the Atomic Energy Commission, a weapons agency that wanted to know how radiation would affect the fertility of nuclear workers, soldiers and astronauts.

In 1995, a White House advisory committee concluded the experiments were unethical.

The panel said the inmates were incapable of informed consent and weren’t adequately informed about long-term risks of developing cancer and other problems.

U.S. District Judge Frem Nielsen will hear the case.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: RADIATION EXPERIMENT PARTICIPANTS The Washington State Penitentiary inmates who participated in the radiation experiment: Jack Leonard Ashbaugh, Kansas City, Mo. (Deceased, age 65) James Harold Bailey, 62, Tacoma. Lloyd Albert Barker, 69, Seattle. John Herbert Bonner, Wenatchee. (Deceased, age 68) Melvin H. Briggs, 57, Airway Heights. Dave L. Bryant, 59, Lake Stevens, Wash. Stephen Michael Bugel, address unknown. (Deceased, age 38) Donald Byers, 61, Airway Heights. Francis Anderson Carey, Chicago. (Deceased, age 59) William Jerry Dana, 54, Miami Beach. James Emmett Daugherty, 75, San Pedro, Calif. Michael Francis Donovan, 67, Portland. Robert Draper, Oregon. (Deceased, age 63) Jay T. Elkins, Coeur d’Alene. (Deceased, age 47) Vincent W. Fraulini, 58, Vancouver, Wash. Robert Edward Haggerty, Retsil, Wash. (Deceased, age 79) Larry Steven Haraughty, 57, Spokane. Robert Willis Hatton, 67, Shelton, Wash. Prince Edward Hendrix, 81, Seattle. William Henry Herring, Lubbock, Texas.(Deceased, age 64) Alvin Tracy Howard, address unknown. (Deceased, age 63) Billy Junior Huff, Spokane. (Deceased, age 64) William Donald Jansen, 59, Everett. Jack Randall Jordan, 60, Auburn, Wash. Gerald Bartholomew Keith, 59, College Place, Wash. Donald Lee Kreitz, 58, Post Falls. Dean Long, 74, Portland. Raymond Lee Lorentzen, 61, Long Beach, Calif. Robert Floyd Madison, Evansville, Ind. (Deceased, age 62) Charles Victor McClellan, 63, Olympia. David Perter Metrevelli, 59, Zillah, Wash. Dale Allen Mohler, 61, Seattle. Donald Paul Morris, 65, San Diego. Duane Edward Murdock, Seattle. (Deceased, age 42) James Michael Murphy, 61, Aurora, Ore. Donald Howard Nelson III, 64, San Antonio. Bruce Warren Nelson, 59, escaped, address unknown. Obie Paul Noonkester, 57, Crawfordsville, Fla. Terrance Lee O’Connor, 58, Leavenworth, Kan. John P. O’Rourke, 59, Seattle. John Thomas Patrick Jr., 62, Maple Valley, Wash. Leo Alvin Persinger, Kennewick. (Deceased, age 68) Clarence Wilbur Ramiskey, Walla Walla. (Deceased, age 53) William H. Safford, address unknown. (Deceased, age 42) Quinton LeRoy Savory, 57, Garland, Texas. James Dee Sherman, 62, Seattle. Jack David Shepherd, 58, Needles, Calif. Jess G. Shirley, 69, Tacoma. Allen A. Sims, Hollywood, Fla. (Deceased, age 68) Edward John Smith, San Diego. (Deceased, age 63) Robert Leonard Solon. (Deceased, address and age unknown) Gerald George Steckler, 69, Spokane. Charles O’Neil Stowell, 60, Seattle. John Edward Summers, Athena, Ore. (Deceased, age 74) Allen Gary Sweet, 56, Seattle. Richard Herman Taylor, Seattle. (Deceased, age 46) Marvin Abraham Tester, 66, Seattle. Leonard Franklin Tharp, 66, Wynnewood or Tulsa, Okla. Jimmie Lee Thomas, 60 or 58, Tacoma. Millard Adolph Tomlin, 61, Marysville, Wash. John S. Tondevold, Belgrade, Mont. (Deceased, age 59) Raymond Torres Jr., Yakima. (Deceased, age 60) Robert Edward White, 56, Seattle.