Defending Gary: Unraveling The Mind Of The Green River Killer

"This can't be the Green River Killer! He's too ordinary! He's too small. He's too calm. He's too polite! He can't possibly have murdered forty-nine women. They can't be serious! They must have screwed up! I didn't realize then, but I was right. Gary Ridgway hadn't killed forty-nine women. He'd killed even more than that."

Praise for Defending Gary

"Prothero offers his perspective on what remains a troubling case. He knows as much as anyone about the 'nasty, tricky little man' . . ." --Associated Press

" . . . both sober and titillating." --The Seattle Times

"An extraordinary account of the most infamous serial killer in American history, 'The Green River Killer.' This is definitely not your average true crime book. The book is a first-person account, well written, and with authors who provide interesting details of defending Gary Ridgway. The interrogation of Ridgway should be fascinating to law enforcement and anyone interested in serial killers. It certainly was to me. I highly recommend it."
--Steve Egger, author, Killers Among Us: An Examination of Serial Murder and Its Investigation

"Defending Gary belongs on every bookshelf of every person interested in serial murder and death penalty cases from the defense perspective."
--Ann Burgess, R.N., D.N.Sc., professor of psychiatric mental health nursing, Boston College, Connell School of Nursing, and coauthor, Sexual Homicides: Patterns and Motives

At first, Mark Prothero, Defense Attorney for Gary Ridgway, thought: "This can't be the Green River Killer He's too ordinary He's too small. He's too calm. He's too polite He can't possibly have murdered forty-nine women. They can't be serious They must have screwed up I didn't realize then, but I was right. Gary Ridgway hadn't killed forty-nine women. He'd killed even more than that."

Soon, Mark Prothero faced the question: "How could you possibly defend the most prolific serial killer in United States history, the infamous Green River Killer? If anyone deserved to be executed for his crimes, didn't he?"

Mark Prothero, co-lead defense attorney who helped save Gary Ridgway from the death sentence, has heard that question many times. Now he's written a book that reveals the true, inside story of exactly how an idealistic public defender, high school swim coach, husband, and dad could bring himself to spend many months of close confinement with a man who brutally murdered at least 75 young women, often in the act of sex. "Defending Gary" shows how Prothero could reconcile these monstrous acts knowing the reality of this unassuming fellow Gary Ridgway, a mild-mannered, church-going, devoted husband, father, and former Navy man, with an IQ of around 82 and a longtime job as a truck painter from Auburn, Washington, near Seattle.