Batt Meets With Judge In Paradis Case

Gov. Phil Batt on Thursday talked with one of the state’s medical experts and the judge who ordered Donald Manuel Paradis executed as he continued piecing together the facts surrounding Paradis’ claim that he has been condemned for a murder he did not commit.

He declined to say what he asked 1st District Judge Gary Haman about, but spokeswoman Amy Kleiner said the governor went over key medical testimony with Spokane pathologist George Lindholm, who was a major factor in swaying a majority of the parole board behind clemency.

The governor also met with three of the five members on the Commission on Pardons and Parole, which voted 3-2 last Friday to recommend that Paradis’ death sentence be commuted to life in prison without parole for the 1980 murder of Kimberly Ann Palmer.

And Batt, the first governor faced with a clemency recommendation, indicated he was no longer sure he could reach a decision by the end of the week.

“I don’t want to act until I’m satisfied,” the governor said. “As soon as I can get all the information I can gather and have time for reflection, I will make a decision.”

He meets with the other two parole board members this morning in what appears will be the final interviews before he begins to evaluate the case.

“I have not, at this point, made a decision,” the governor said.

Telephone calls to the governor’s office from the public fell off on Thursday after totalling more than 100 a day earlier. The staff said it fielded just over 50 with clemency supporters slightly outnumbering opponents. Wednesday’s calls were about evenly divided, and the several dozen during the early part of the week ran against clemency.

Prosecutors, who made their pitch for the governor to reject clemency on Tuesday, maintain everything Paradis is raising now has been reviewed in one way or another during his 1981 trial and the subsequent string of appellate reviews over the past 15 years.

But Paradis, 47, whose attorneys urged the governor on Wednesday to commute the death sentence, claims the key medical and forensic evidence was not properly brought forward at his trial because of an incompetent defense attorney. It was that evidence that convince the commission majority that Palmer was not killed near Post Falls.