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Sebastian Burns
and Atif Rafay
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recent news items |  Defence
Committee's Research | Confession
Coercion Strategy in the Rafay Burns case | Media
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police and courts
Main Rafay Burns page
continued
(reports of trial, May 2004)
Sebastian Burns
Atif Rafay
Extradition of two men
accused in Bellevue slayings is delayed
Tuesday, October 26, 1999,
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
The extradition of two men
accused of a 1994 triple murder in Bellevue was delayed yet again
yesterday as the Supreme Court of Canada called for another hearing.
King County prosecutors charged
Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns with killing Rafay's parents and
sister. The men remain in a Vancouver, B.C., jail.
Canada's high court is faced
with whether to return the pair to King County for trial in the
potential death-penalty case. Rafay and Burns are both citizens
of Canada, a country that outlawed capital punishment in 1976.
In March, defense attorneys
and human-rights groups asked the Supreme Court to block the
extradition unless prosecutors agree not to seek capital punishment.
King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng has not said whether he will.
The Supreme Court decision
was expected to take at least six months.
Since March, one of the court's
nine justices retired and another plans to retire. The high court
is expected to hear the case again early next year when new justices
are seated.
Prosecutors say Burns, now
24, bludgeoned Rafay's parents, Tariq and Sultana Rafay, and
his 21-year-old autistic sister, Basma, in their Somerset-neighborhood
home. They contend Rafay, now 23, watched, then helped make it
resemble a robbery.
-
- No death penalty in Rafay case
- Maleng promises to
honor Canadian request not to seek capital punishment
By TRACY JOHNSON, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER,
March 10, 2001
King County Prosecutor Norm
Maleng promised yesterday that he will not seek the death penalty
for two men charged with one of Bellevue's most brutal murders.
The move was essentially forced
by Canada's highest court, which ruled last month that Atif Rafay
and Sebastian Burns could not be returned from Vancouver, B.C.,
to King County for trial if there were any chance they could
face execution.
"I am personally troubled
by the idea that a foreign government can restrict the application
of our state law for a crime that occurred within our borders,"
Maleng said in a written statement.
But he also has "an interest
in seeing these men brought to justice and in achieving finality
in this tragic case."
The two men, both 25, are accused
of beating to death Rafay's parents and autistic sister in their
Somerset-area home in 1994. They have spent almost six years
in a Vancouver jail as the prospect of their extradition drew
international controversy.
Maleng yesterday gave his assurances
that "the death penalty will neither be sought nor imposed"
in a letter to the U.S. Justice Department, which will send word
to Canadian authorities.
His only choice was to watch
Canada set the pair free.
"It's a very clear decision
by the (Canadian) Supreme Court," said Burns' Seattle attorney,
Theresa Olson.
"We're glad he read this
decision the same way we did."
Olson said her client, Burns,
is somewhat relieved that he will not be in limbo much longer.
Both men could be in the King County Jail awaiting trial by the
end of the month.
"I don't think anyone
is ever eager to be tried for three counts of aggravated murder
in the first degree," Olson said, "but I think Mr.
Burns is looking forward to fighting the charges in court --
after so many years."
"I think it's about time
that Mr. Maleng's office has given those assurances," said
Rafay's Seattle attorney, Gary Davis.
Ever since Maleng charged Rafay
and Burns each with three counts of aggravated murder in 1995,
he never said whether he would seek capital punishment. The state's
only possible penalties for the crime are death or life in prison
with no possibility of release.
Under Washington law, the prosecutor
of each county has the sole power to decide whether to ask jurors
to impose execution in aggravated-murder cases.
But the decision is made after
defendants answer to the charges, and Rafay and Burns have not
yet been arraigned. The two men are citizens of Canada, which
fueled the long extradition battle.
Canada abolished capital punishment
in 1976 and has never handed over a citizen to face it.
In its decision Feb. 15, the
Supreme Court of Canada noted that "in the Canadian view
of fundamental justice, capital punishment is unjust and should
be stopped" -- a view "increasingly shared by most
of the world's democracies."
Justices rejected the argument
that Canada would become a "safe haven" for criminals
trying to avoid execution.
But Maleng expressed concern
in his letter:
"While I take issue with
the notion that an offender can commit murder in Washington state
and then flee to Canada to seek the protection of Canadian laws,
I also have an interest in seeing these men brought to justice."
On July 13, 1994, three members
of the Rafay family were found dead in their split-level home.
Sultana Rafay was beaten to
death and left with a shawl draped over her head. Her husband,
Tariq, was clubbed as he lay in bed.
Their autistic daughter, Basma,
21, tried to fight off her attacker but later died in a hospital.
Rafay, home from his freshman
year at Cornell University, and Burns, his longtime friend, told
police they found the gruesome scene after returning home from
a movie.
But prosecutors allege Burns
beat all three victims with a baseball bat while Rafay watched,
then helped shuffle things around to make it look like a robbery.
They contend the motive for
the killings was money: about $350,000 in life insurance and
the value of the family home.
Within days, the pair left
for Vancouver, B.C.
They were arrested a year later,
after King County prosecutors filed charges.
Canada OKs transfer of
Rafay, Burns to state
POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
and NEWS SERVICES,
March 29, 2001
VANCOUVER, B.C. -- Canada's
justice minister has signed papers that will send Atif Rafay
and Glen Sebastian Burns to Washington state, where they are
charged in the 1994 slayings of Rafay's family.
Burns and Rafay are charged
in the slayings of Rafay's father, mother and sister in Bellevue.
Justice Minister Anne McLellan
approved the transfer yesterday, said Lise Cantin, a Department
of Justice spokeswoman.
McLellan's approval came after
King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng assured the Canadian government
earlier this month that neither man would face the death penalty
if convicted in the United States. Cantin said U.S. marshals
are free to pick the men up. No timetable was discussed.
In Seattle, Maleng spokesman
Dan Donohoe said his office hoped to have the two men back "as
soon as possible."
Burns and Rafay have been held
in a British Columbia prison while their extradition fight wound
its way to the Supreme Court of Canada. The high court decided
last month the two Vancouver men could not be extradited for
trial without protection from the death penalty.
Now in their mid-20s, Rafay
and Burns, both Canadian citizens, have been charged with aggravated
first-degree murder. The Rafay family members were found beaten
to death with a baseball bat in their suburban Bellevue home
July 12, 1994, when Rafay and Burns were 18.
Suspects in Rafay killings
booked into jail
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
STAFF, March 30, 2001
Two Canadian men charged in
the 1994 slaying of a Bellevue family were booked into the King
County Jail yesterday, ending a long extradition battle.
Atif Rafay and Glen Sebastian
Burns were transported by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to
the Canadian border, where they were picked up by officers with
the Bellevue Police Department and U.S. Marshals Service.
They will remain in jail until
April 6. Rafay and Burns, now in their mid-20s, have been charged
with aggravated first-degree murder. Rafay family members were
found beaten to death with a baseball bat in their home.
Two men plead innocent
in Bellevue family slaying
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, April
6, 2001
Two Canadian men who fought
a six-year extradition battle that ended in Canada's Supreme
Court pleaded innocent Friday to charges they killed one of the
men's parents and sister.
Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns
are accused of killing Rafay's father, mother and sister in 1994
in their suburban Bellevue home. They pleaded innocent to charges
of aggravated first-degree murder in King County Superior Court.
The Supreme Court of Canada
ruled earlier this year that because Canada does not have the
death penalty, the men could not be returned to the United States
unless prosecutors promised they would not be executed. County
Prosecutor Norm Maleng made that promise, and Rafay and Burns
were returned last month.
In court documents, their lawyers
argued the charges should be dismissed, saying prosecutors violated
their right to a speedy trial. They could have been extradited
and arraigned years ago if the prosecutor's office had agreed
sooner not to seek the death penalty, the lawyers said.
Leesa Barrow, a deputy chief
of staff in the prosecutor's office, challenged that assertion.
``I think to make an argument
that we could have arraigned them seven years ago, when they
fled the country, that's going to be a difficult argument to
make,'' she said.
Rafay and Burns were held in
a British Columbia prison from the time of their arrest in 1995
until their return to Seattle.
If convicted, the men, who
are now in their mid-20s, would be sentenced to life in prison
without parole.
The Rafay family members were
beaten to death with a baseball bat on July 12, 1994, when Rafay
and Burns were 18.
© 1998-2004 Seattle
Post-Intelligencer
- 2 plead not guilty
in Bellevue killings
- Attorneys want charges dismissed because
extradited pair did not get a speedy trial
By TRACY JOHNSON, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER,
April 7, 2001
Almost seven years after a
Bellevue family was brutally slain, the two young men charged
with the crime made their first, long-anticipated appearance
yesterday in King County Superior Court.
Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns,
who were at the center of a long extradition battle with Canada,
pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated first-degree
murder.
Legal wrangling began immediately,
when defense attorneys said the charges should be dismissed because
the men were denied their right to a speedy trial. If the charges
are not dismissed, they will ask that they be tried separately.
Prosecutors did not have a
chance to respond to the matters, which will be argued at a future
hearing.
The two men, both 25, are accused
of beating to death Rafay's parents and autistic sister in their
Somerset-area home in 1994.
Led into the 12th-floor courtroom
individually, the longtime friends were a stark contrast to each
other.
Burns was tall and broad-shouldered,
with thick brown curls. Rafay was short and slight, wearing his
too-long jail uniform rolled at the hem and closely cropped black
hair.
Arrested in 1995, they spent
nearly six years in a Vancouver, B.C., jail while their attorneys
argued against returning them to King County if there was any
chance they could face the death penalty.
They are both citizens of Canada,
which outlawed capital punishment in 1976 and has never handed
over one of its citizens to face it.
In a February ruling, the Supreme
Court of Canada denounced the death penalty and ruled that the
pair could not be extradited if it was an option.
King County Prosecutor Norm
Maleng gave his word last month that they would face life in
prison.
Yesterday, Rafay's attorney,
Gary Davis, said prosecutors should have taken the death penalty
off the table long ago to bring the pair back to the United States.
"This prosecutor's office
knew what the Canadian position was," he said.
Deputy prosecutor James Konat
questioned how defense attorneys who had fought the young men's
extradition could argue that keeping them in Canada violated
their rights.
Rafay's parents, Tariq and
Sultana, were found beaten to death in their split-level home
on July 13, 1994.
Their autistic daughter, Basma,
21, tried to fight off her attacker but later died in a hospital.
Rafay, home from his freshman
year at Cornell University, and Burns told police they found
the gruesome scene after returning home from a movie.
Prosecutors contend the young
men were after money: about $350,000 in life insurance and the
value of the family home. But defense attorneys plan to put that
theory and the evidence "under a microscope," Davis
said.
P-I reporter Tracy Johnson
can be reached at 206-467-5942 or tracyjohnson@seattle-pi.com
Police tactics challenged
in Rafay case
By TRACY JOHNSON, SEATTLE
POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER, October 19, 2001
Defense attorneys say investigators
exaggerated their evidence against Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns
-- accused of bludgeoning Rafay's family in Bellevue -- so that
a Canadian judge would let them secretly videotape and tape-record
the pair.
They plan to ask a judge to
throw out incriminating statements the young men made to undercover
Canadian police officers in 1995, one year after the killings.
"Clearly, the Canadian
judge who signed the warrants was given false information,"
said Burns' attorney, Theresa Olson. "That is very concerning
to us."
But King County prosecutors
maintain they have "overwhelming evidence" against
the pair, including DNA and confessions they allegedly made to
a close pal.
"We believe that there's
not an issue here, and that we'll be moving forward with the
case," said Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the prosecutor's
office.
A hearing date has not been
set. Other pretrial matters will be argued in King County Superior
Court this morning, including whether the identity of a supposed
informant should be given to the defense.
Rafay, 25, and Burns, 26, are
accused of killing Rafay's parents, Tariq and Sultana, and his
autistic sister, Basma, 21, for insurance money and the family
home. Rafay told police he and Burns found the gruesome scene
early July 13, 1994, after returning home from a movie.
Within days, he and Burns returned
to their homeland of Canada, and Bellevue police asked the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police for help. The Mounties launched an undercover
operation, befriending the young men and persuading a judge to
allow electronic surveillance.
But Olson and co-counsel Neil
Fox argue that more than 30 things that an RCMP officer told
the judge -- possibly with the help of Bellevue police or King
County prosecutors -- were misleading or wrong. Among them:
That Rafay and Burns were calm
when police arrived, for example, though court documents say
officers actually found Rafay "fidgety" and Burns so
emotional he "could hardly speak."
Or that the slayings occurred
during the only two-hour period that Burns and Rafay didn't have
a provable alibi, even though the precise time of death wasn't
known.
The lawyers also note that
investigators didn't mention anything that could show that Burns
and Rafay were innocent: That neighbors heard suspicious noises
from the Rafay house at a time when the men were seen elsewhere.
Or that "bloody footprints found in the garage did not match
the shoes of either young man."
The attorneys say the judge's
signature allowed investigators to bug the pair's Vancouver-area
home, tap phone lines of their friends and relatives -- even
secretly videotape the young men giving confessions they contend
were coerced.
"This is not some little
screw-up," Olson said. "Clearly, it goes beyond the
level of an innocent mistake."
The prosecutor's office declined
to discuss the specific defense claims, saying the matter would
be handled in court. But documents they filed yesterday show
that they have strong confidence in their case.
"The defendants have admitted
their guilt -- to a friend, and to RCMP undercover officers,
on videotape, in a manner almost unimaginably boastful and remorseless,"
Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Baird wrote.
The trial is set for May 6.
The case was delayed for years by an extradition dispute between
United States and Canada, which handed over the young men only
after prosecutors agreed they would not seek the death penalty,
which Canada does not recognize.
P-I reporter Tracy Johnson
can be reached at 206-467-5942 or tracyjohnson@seattlepi.com
Judge allows release
of secret police operation details
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
STAFF and NEWS SERVICES, October 20, 2001
Canadian police may never reveal
an informant's identity in the 1994 slaying of a Bellevue family,
but a King County judge agreed yesterday that defense attorneys
were entitled to details about the secret police operation that
helped snare two suspects.
Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns
were charged with killing Rafay's family in 1995, after undercover
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers befriended them and secretly
recorded the pair making incriminating statements. If the Canadian
police are unwilling to divulge the strategies they used, Superior
Court Judge Charles Mertel said he would ask a Canadian court
to order them to do so.
Rafay in contentious
hearing over lawyers
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
STAFF, March 30, 2002
Atif Rafay, charged in his
family's 1994 slaying in Bellevue, was at the center of a contentious
court hearing yesterday about whether he should be allowed to
get new lawyers.
King County Superior Court
Judge Charles Mertel said earlier this week that public defenders
Gary Davis and James Keonig could withdraw from the triple-murder
case, but prosecutors now hope to change his mind.
A hearing was set for April
8.
Rafay, 26, maintains in court
documents that he doesn't trust his current counsel to advocate
for him, protect his secrets and keep him informed about the
case.
Yesterday, private attorney
Tito Rodriguez argued on Rafay's behalf, while prosecutors argued
that they should be privy to what went on in a series of closed-door
hearings about Rafay's counsel.
An apparent rift between Rafay,
his lawyers, and the lawyers of co-defendant Sebastian Burns
has resulted in complaints to the state Bar Association and a
no-contact order, though the details are contained in sealed
files.
Deputy prosecutor James Konat
said he doesn't want Rafay to get new lawyers because "there
is no conceivable way they could be ready by October," when
the trial is scheduled. Rodriguez said he believed it was possible.
Canadian evidence at
issue in Rafay case
By TRACY JOHNSON, SEATTLE
POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER, April 23, 2003
The two undercover Canadian
detectives pretended they were powerful crime lords with fancy
cars, beautiful women and exorbitant amounts of cash at their
fingertips, according to court documents.
They struck up a friendship
with Sebastian Burns and Atif Rafay -- and supposedly persuaded
the pair to confess to the 1994 Bellevue slaying of Rafay's family.
The undercover operation --
which involved electronically monitoring the young men's private
conversations for months -- would have been of questionable legality
in Washington.
Now a judge must decide whether
the evidence gathered by Canadian officers can be used against
Rafay and Burns in King County Superior Court.
The trial is set to begin in
September.
The issue may come down to
whether the Canadian officers conducted their secret investigation
on their own, or at the behest of Bellevue police.
Judge Charles Mertel isn't
expected to make a decision until at least next month, when the
two undercover officers are expected to testify.
Yesterday, two other members
of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the undercover operation
was solely the idea of their police force and a tactic used in
homicide investigations all the time.
Gary Bass, then the RCMP officer
in charge of major crimes, said his agency had launched its own
investigation into whether Rafay and Burns -- both citizens of
Canada -- plotted the killings while on Canadian soil.
"Based on the time frames
... I felt quite comfortable believing that the planning had
been going on for quite some time, and that it had been going
on in Canada," Bass testified.
King County prosecutors acknowledge
that Bellevue detectives did seek Canadian officers' help under
an international treaty for legal assistance -- but mainly to
get a DNA sample from Burns.
Deputy prosecutors Roger Davidheiser
and James Konat contend that Bellevue police had no idea the
RCMP would launch an undercover investigation that would involve
bugging telephones, cars and homes.
But they say those tactics
are perfectly legal in Canada, which by law means that the evidence
can be used here.
In court documents, prosecutors
say Rafay and Burns confessed to the slayings while being secretly
videotaped, talking about the crime "in a manner almost
unimaginably boastful and remorseless."
But attorneys for Rafay, Veronica
Freitas and Marc Stenchever, contend that the young men merely
offered false confessions out of fear. They say the undercover
officers first told Rafay and Burns that if they knew all of
the details of the slayings, they could use their crime organization's
connections to have evidence destroyed.
When that didn't work, according
to the lawyers, the officers led Rafay and Burns to believe the
crime organization would have them killed if they didn't confess.
The attorneys argue that the
operation "went beyond any and all permissible boundaries."
They say Canadian police opened their own investigation -- for
which charges were never filed -- only after Bellevue police
realized that was the only way they would be able to use any
of the RCMP's evidence.
And Burns' attorneys contend
that Bellevue police were fully involved in the undercover operation
-- they had contact with Canadian police at least 36 times during
the last two and a half months of the undercover operation.
Rafay and Burns, now 27, were
charged with three counts of aggravated murder in August 1995.
It was just over a year after Rafay's parents, Tariq and Sultana,
and his developmentally disabled sister, Basma, 20, were found
bludgeoned in their home.
Prosecutors contend that Rafay
and Burns hoped to get roughly $350,000 from the family estate,
and Canadian authorities called their undercover operation "Project
Estate."
Canadian police also surreptitiously
got a sample of Burns' DNA by grabbing a tissue the young man
discarded at a coffeehouse after blowing his nose. The DNA allegedly
matches hair found in a shower at the Rafay home, where police
allege that Burns washed away blood after the slayings.
Burns and Rafay remained behind
bars in Canada during a lengthy extradition battle. They were
brought to King County in March 2001.
P-I reporter Tracy Johnson
can be reached at 206-467-5942 or tracyjohnson@seattlepi.com
- Friend says Rafay and
Burns discussed lethal plot
- 2 men are charged in
the 1994 slaying of family in Bellevue
By TRACY JOHNSON, SEATTLE
POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER, August 15, 2003
A former best friend of Atif
Rafay and Sebastian Burns, both accused in a triple slaying,
said they had talked in 1994 about killing Rafay's family --
even discussing ways to do it and working out an alibi.
On the witness stand yesterday
in a pretrial hearing, Jimmy Miyoshi said he never wanted to
testify against the two men, who face trial in November in the
killing of Rafay's parents and sister in their Bellevue home.
Miyoshi lives in Japan now and acknowledged that he has essentially
been hiding from King County prosecutors for years.
But he came to King County
Superior Court this week, partly because his boss found out about
the matter and urged him to take care of it.
Now attorneys are questioning
him about the slayings -- and videotaping every word in case
he is unwilling to return for the trial.
Burns' lawyers said it will
be up to jurors to decide whether Miyoshi is telling the truth,
suggesting that he might fear losing his job or even facing criminal
charges if he doesn't cooperate with authorities.
This week, Miyoshi testified
that Rafay and Burns, now both 27, had talked in early 1994 about
killing Rafay's family. He said that at least one of them had
mentioned getting insurance proceeds, but he "didn't believe
that insurance was the sole reason."
Miyoshi said that one day,
as they relaxed by a creek near his parents' home in Canada,
the three of them chatted about ways they could do it.
Someone came up with the idea
of leaving the gas on in the Rafay family kitchen, he said, and
Burns suggested using a baseball bat.
Miyoshi, who said he couldn't
remember many details, said a bat was thought of as "a quick,
painless way of killing someone."
He also said Rafay and Burns
told him afterward about the slayings. He said Rafay first lured
his mother downstairs so that Burns could bludgeon her.
Miyoshi said Burns told him
it "wasn't the easiest or most pleasant thing to do,"
but once he had struck Atif's mother, "there was no going
back." Rafay's father and sister were attacked next, he
said.
Miyoshi said Burns and Rafay
had crafted an alibi. They went to a showing of "The Lion
King," which police say they left early to commit the slayings,
and other public places that night, trying to attract attention
so that people would remember seeing them, Miyoshi said.
Burns' attorney, Jeff Robinson,
noted that Miyoshi has changed his story since he was arrested
with Rafay and Burns in 1995, adding new and seemingly incriminating
details as recently as this week.
Miyoshi acknowledged that he
never told investigators anything about his friends planning
an alibi.
He admitted lying about the
case on several occasions, saying he had "mixed feelings"
-- and still does -- about testifying against his friends.
Robinson said Miyoshi called
Burns' lawyers recently and asked, "How would the situation
change if I were to be a witness for your side?"
Authorities in Canada gave
Miyoshi immunity years ago, promising that he wouldn't face criminal
charges if he told them what he knows about the slayings and
testifies in Rafay's and Burns' trial.
Defense lawyers have suggested
that the agreement has prompted Miyoshi to say what police want
to hear.
Rafay's parents, Tariq and
Sultana, and their 20-year-old autistic daughter, Basma, were
bludgeoned in July 1994.
Within days, Rafay and Burns
returned to Canada, where they are citizens. They were charged
with the slayings in 1995, touching off an extradition battle
that lasted years.
Jurors in Rafay case
allowed to see video
By TRACY JOHNSON, SEATTLE
POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER, October 1, 2003
Jurors will be allowed to hear
Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns talk on videotape about the slayings
of Rafay's family as well as other evidence from an elaborate
Canadian police operation that had undercover officers pretending
to be high-rolling criminals.
King County Superior Court
Judge Charles Mertel turned down defense attorneys' request yesterday
to throw out the evidence, finding that the officers' tactics
-- essentially unheard of in Washington -- were perfectly legal
in Canada.
Mertel agreed with a Canadian
judge's ruling that the officers "engaged in tricks, but
not dirty tricks" in their investigation, and he did not
find that the undercover officers coerced Rafay and Burns into
talking to them.
Rafay and Burns are charged
with the 1994 bludgeoning deaths of Rafay's parents, Tariq and
Sultana, and his autistic 20-year-old sister, Basma, in their
Bellevue home. If convicted, they would face life in prison.
Attorneys have been arguing
over the evidence -- and the way the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
went about getting it -- for months in King County Superior Court.
Yesterday's ruling was key
to how both sides present their cases in the trial next month.
"The jury is going to
hear the whole story, not just the parts the defense couldn't
keep out," deputy prosecutor James Konat said.
Burns' attorney, Song Richardson,
said it would also be important for jurors to hear how the supposed
confessions came about.
"When police officers
pretend to be mobsters -- when they lie, threaten and intimidate
teenagers in order to manipulate them into a world of organized
crime -- they create the recipe for a false confession,"
Richardson said.
Attorneys for Rafay, 27, and
Burns, 28, have argued all along that the Canadian police investigation
"went beyond any and all permissible boundaries." It
began after Rafay and Burns, both Canadian citizens, returned
to the Vancouver area shortly after the slayings.
Undercover officers befriended
the young men and pretended to be big shots in a world of crime,
money and guns. They also began monitoring the men's conversations
by planting bugs in their telephones, cars and home.
The officers eventually got
the pair to talk about the slayings -- while being secretly videotaped
-- in what prosecutors have called an "almost unimaginably
boastful and remorseless" way.
But defense attorneys argued
that the officers got the young men, who were then just teenagers,
to "confess" by implying their mob would have them
killed if they didn't.
The attorneys maintained that
the Canadian officers did it for Bellevue police, who wanted
to solve the Rafay family slayings but couldn't legally use such
tactics themselves.
Prosecutors acknowledged that
Bellevue detectives asked Canada for help, but they said the
detectives had no idea that RCMP officers would start masquerading
as powerful crime lords and would secretly be listening to the
suspects' private conversations.
Prosecutors argued that Canadian
police had their own purpose: They were investigating Burns and
Rafay for conspiracy and insurance fraud, suspecting that the
pair planned the slayings in Canada to get insurance proceeds.
Yesterday, Mertel found that
"there was, without question, extensive sharing of information"
between Bellevue and Canadian police, but he found that Bellevue
police weren't calling the shots.
He also rejected defense attorneys'
argument that Canadian police couldn't have gotten a judge's
approval to plant recording devices if they hadn't lied, making
the evidence against Rafay and Burns sound far more incriminating
than it was.
Mertel noted that a sergeant
did make mistakes in his sworn statement to the judge, but said
they weren't intentional.
P-I reporter Tracy Johnson
can be reached at 206-467-5942 or tracyjohnson@seattlepi.com
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continued (reports of
trial, May 2004)
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