Lame-Duck Lowry Faces Pleas For Clemency Ex-Deputy In Repressed Memory Case Loses Panel Vote

A former Thurston County lawman serving a 20-year prison sentence for sensational crimes he says he didn’t commit is relying on the mercy of Gov. Mike Lowry to set him free before the lame-duck governor’s term expires next month.

Paul Ingram’s bid for freedom suffered another blow Friday when the state Clemency and Pardons Board, an appointed panel that advises the governor, voted 3-1 to reject his petition. There was one abstention.

The vote, which is not binding, was the latest in a series of setbacks for the former Thurston County sheriff’s deputy who pleaded guilty in 1989 to raping his two daughters in bizarre satanic rituals.

The clemency board also considered the petitions of six other inmates hoping for mercy as Lowry leaves office. Of the six, the board voted to recommend that the governor grant relief to one.

The board has been flooded with about 50 petitions for clemency in recent months, according to the governor’s counsel, Kent Caputo.

Supporters of about 50 other criminals have called, asking for Lowry to bypass the panel and consider their cases directly.

Ingram’s case has drawn national attention - including a book and a television movie - to the repressed memory theory, which holds that the mind can refuse to acknowledge extremely painful memories for years. In this case, the memories were alleged to have been repressed by Ingram.

In 1988, Ingram was accused by his two daughters - then 22 and 18 - of repeatedly abusing them. As investigators looked into the daughters’ accusations, their stories grew more outrageous as they described torture and satanic worship.

He eventually pleaded guilty to six counts of third-degree rape of a child. Ingram has served eight years in prison, and exhausted all his appeals.

His petition for clemency was bolstered by two psychologists, a journalist and others who told the board six months ago that Ingram was coerced by his colleagues in the sheriff’s department into confessing. One of the psychologists described it as a “modern-day Salem.”

“The governor didn’t create this problem. But the governor could put an end to it,” Ingram’s lawyer, Hugh McGavick, told the panel on Friday.

The board hearing in June also included surprise testimony by Ingram’s son, Chad, who claimed he had been abused by his father and listed a plethora of personal problems that he blamed on his family. That contradicted previous statements Chad Ingram had made over the years.

Caputo said Lowry has never granted relief in a case that didn’t meet the board’s approval.

The board rejected a petition for Lonnie Link, who was convicted of aggravated first-degree murder in the killing of a Spokane police officer in 1984.

Lowry has granted relief to 10 people during his four-year term - most of them terminally ill.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Hunter T. George Associated Press