Dad To Use Murder Trial As Platform Against Abuse He Says Victims Raped Daughter, Claims Molesters Let Off Too Easy

Kenneth Arrasmith plans to turn his defense against two counts of first-degree murder into a platform against child abuse and a system he contends too often lets abusers go unpunished.

“I know that everything that’s happened here will save some children from going through this horror,” Arrasmith said in a telephone interview from the Nez Perce County Jail. “It’s horror that we can’t even imagine.”

Arrasmith, 44, of Sunnyside, Wash., is accused of killing Ronald and Luella Bingham of Clarkston, Wash. They were shot repeatedly on May 17 outside a Lewiston auto repair shop.

The former sheriff’s deputy in Washington’s Asotin County will be arraigned Tuesday in 2nd District Court.

At the time of their deaths, Asotin County officials were investigating allegations that the Binghams had molested Arrasmith’s 15-year-old daughter. Arrasmith had investigated on his own and took what he found to authorities about a week before the murders.

“The cops already knew,” he said. “I refuse to let this be swept under the rug.”

But Arrasmith said he does not blame law enforcement officials.

“I want them to get on the bandwagon and change the system,” he said. “I’m not mad at them; I’m upset at the system.”

The Binghams twice were charged with raping young girls.

In 1979, charges were dropped after the alleged victim’s father sent her to live in another town.

In 1984, they were charged with raping their 16-year-old baby sitter. Ron Bingham pleaded guilty to second-degree rape in exchange for the charges being dismissed against his wife, and he served 18 months in prison.

Arrasmith wants to stop such plea bargains in sexual abuse cases.

“Even though the right things weren’t done in the past, let’s do the right thing now,” he said, calling on authorities to “stop these predators from feeding on our children.”

Family members have said Arrasmith discovered his daughter, already a troubled teenager, had been held a virtual prisoner by the Binghams, who had offered her and her boyfriend a place to live.

She was fed drugs and sexually abused, they contend.

His daughter has suffered and will continue to suffer because of what happened to her, Arrasmith said. She has been hospitalized in southern Idaho for several weeks.

Much of the community has rallied around Arrasmith. Former Asotin County Sheriff Herb Reeves even told the Boston Globe that if he did kill the Binghams, “He did us all a favor.”

“I’m not a martyr. I’m not hero,” Arrasmith said. “I’m just a dad.”