Defense Argues Teen Didn’t Expect Girls To Die Walla Walla Boy Should Be Acquitted, His Attorney Says

A defense lawyer told Walla Walla County Superior Court jurors on Tuesday they lacked the evidence to convict a 15-year-old boy of murder in the suffocation deaths of his younger sister and her best friend.

Attorney William McCool said the jury should consider either acquitting Daniel Betournay or convicting him of first-or second-degree manslaughter. McCool contended the prosecutor failed to prove that Betournay both premeditated and intended to kill the girls.

The College Place youth is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the Dec. 14, 1994, deaths of his sister, April, and her friend, Beth Garbe, both 14.

He has confessed to killing the girls, but his lawyers contend he suffered from diminished mental capacity and cannot be found guilty of murder.

“Danny believed that the girls would not die. Whether that was a reasonable belief or not, and whether Danny should be convicted of a lesser charge depends on how you jurors interpret the law on manslaughter,” McCool said in his closing argument. “But when it comes to murder in the first degree of these two girls, or murder in the second degree of these two girls, the answer is glaringly no.

“If you don’t expect someone to die, then you don’t have intent for them to die,” McCool said. “If Danny did not intend for these girls to die, then he cannot be found guilty of murder in the first or second degree.”

McCool contends that Betournay wanted to run away from home, but because of his mental disorder got confused and he turned to thoughts of suicide and then of killing someone else. But Betournay did not know the consequences of his actions and he truly believed his mother would arrive home from work in time to save the girls, McCool said.

“I hope you’ll send him out as he came in 13 days ago: an innocent man - an innocent boy - who had probably the worst day anyone can ever have.”

Deputy Prosecutor Joe Golden was having none of it.

“I submit to you that’s not true,” Golden told the jury. “Beth Garbe and April Betournay had the worst day anyone could ever have.”

Golden contended there was plenty of evidence Betournay planned his actions, including the way he hid in his bedroom as he saw his sister get off the school bus and waited for an opportunity to attack her. He had already hidden duct tape in his parents’ bedroom, thinking she’d go in there first to use the bathroom.

The jury received the case Tuesday afternoon and deliberated until midevening. They will resume this morning.