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  1. #1
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    Byron Eugene Scherf - Washington


    Jayme Biendl, a 34-year-old corrections officer, was found dead in the chapel of the Washington state prison where she worked.




    Suspect has violent history with women

    The inmate suspected of killing a Monroe corrections officer on Saturday has a long history of violence against women, and spent the last 14 years behind bars knowing he had zero chance of ever again living free.

    Byron Scherf, 52, had since 1997 been serving a sentence of life without possibility of release under the state's "three strikes" law. His criminal history began when he was barely 20, and includes rapes, kidnapping, and one attack where he lit a woman on fire.

    Scherf is being held in isolation at the Monroe Correctional Complex. Officials there say he is the prime suspect in the apparent strangulation killing of Jayme Biendl, 34.

    Biendl's death is being investigated as a homicide, Monroe police spokeswoman Debbie Willis said Sunday.

    Killing a corrections officer is an aggravating circumstance under Washington law governing first-degree murder. A person who is convicted can face the death penalty.

    Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Roe said his office was working closely with detectives investigating Biendl's killing.

    "I know the investigators working this case and have complete confidence in them," he said. "At this point my main thoughts are about the victim, her family, the people who loved her and worked with her, and law enforcement officers everywhere who do a dangerous job and put their lives on the line every time they go to work.

    "I know the investigation will be thorough, and our prosecution will be professional. But the human tragedy is what's most on my mind right now," Roe added.

    Prison officials said Scherf declined to speak with them and requested a lawyer.

    Scherf was a volunteer in the chapel. He told his wife that he enjoyed the work, which included helping organize files.

    On Saturday, he'd received a visit from his wife.

    She told investigators there was no indication he was planning to escape or wanted to hurt a corrections officer, Monroe Correctional Complex superintendent Scott Frakes said.

    "The only thing he said is he had a headache," Frakes said. "Other than that, there was nothing different about his behavior."

    Scherf received a life sentence for a 1995 rape and kidnapping of a woman in Spokane County. In 1997, the Spokesman-Review newspaper reported that he attacked a real estate agent after arranging for the woman to show him a house she was selling. Once inside, he grabbed a butcher knife, forced her into the trunk of his car, drove to a wooded area and raped her.

    The woman later told police that Scherf said he'd planned to take her life, but changed his mind. He was arrested a few days later, high on drugs and driving erratically.

    In his car was a notebook in which Scherf admitted to the rape, and said the woman "looked like a Playboy girl," the newspaper reported.

    At the time of the Spokane County attack, Scherf was on parole and already had two "strikes" toward an automatic life sentence. His first "strike" was for a 1978 assault. His second "strike" was for a 1981 rape in Pierce County.

    In the 1981 case, Scherf kidnapped a waitress, took her to an abandoned house, tied her up and sexually assaulted her. Before leaving, he poured gasoline on the woman and set her afire. She managed to wriggle out of a second-story window and survived, the newspaper reported.

    Scherf received a life sentence for that attack, but under the laws then in effect, he won parole 12 years later.

    Washington voters in 1993 adopted the nation's first "three strikes" law. It requires life sentences without release for three separate convictions of certain "most serious" offenses, almost all of them violent crimes. Two years later, Scherf was among the first 100 people to "strike out" under the law.

    http://www.heraldnet.com/article/201...WS01/701309860

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    Several investigations into Monroe guard death

    Several investigations are under way in the strangling death of Monroe Correctional Officer Jayme Biendl.

    Monroe police must wrap up their investigation of suspected inmate Byron Scherf before the Monroe Correctional Complex can conduct its own investigation, The Daily Herald of Everett reported Wednesday.

    Police served more search warrants in the past few days and are wrapping up interviews and collecting evidence, Monroe police spokeswoman Debbie Willis said.

    "They're slowing down, but it's continuing," she said Tuesday.

    The newest search warrants were for records and paperwork documenting Scherf's life, she said. That includes records for housing, education and his brief stint in the military. Investigators also are looking through his medical records, including his history of medications and psychological evaluations.

    As of Tuesday night, Scherf had declined to speak with investigators, Willis said.

    Scherf, 52, is a convicted rapist serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

    The state Department of Labor and Industries also is investigating. It will determine whether state workplace safety laws were violated, agency spokesman Hector Castro said. That agency is required by law to finish its investigation in six months. If those officials find something wrong, they can issue citations and fines.

    And, Gov. Chris Gregoire wants an independent review by the federal National Institute of Corrections.

    Biendl, 34, was found Jan. 29 in the prison chapel at the Washington State Reformatory.

    Monroe police will forward their completed investigation to Snohomish County prosecutors, who will decide on charges. Killing a corrections officer can lead to the death penalty in Washington.

    Monroe Correctional Complex Superintendent Scott Frakes said he must wait until police are finished before investigating what happened the night Biendl was killed. Among other things, he wants to know why it took more than an hour to find Biendl after Scherf was apprehended in the chapel lobby.

    http://www.theolympian.com/2011/02/0...#ixzz1DTQgmrjO

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    Death-penalty decision in prison slaying may come quickly

    Snohomish County Prosecutor Mark Roe may not wait long before deciding whether to seek the death penalty against the prison inmate accused of killing corrections officer Jayme Biendl in January.

    Roe has given defense attorneys for Byron Scherf until Monday to submit their death-penalty mitigation information to his office, four days before Scherf is expected to be charged with aggravated murder in Snohomish County Superior Court.

    The mitigation information will essentially outline why the defense believes Scherf should not face the death penalty if he's convicted of strangling Biendl at the Monroe Correctional Complex.

    Roe will review the information before deciding whether to seek the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

    Traditionally, once a defendant is charged with aggravated first-degree murder in superior court, prosecutors in Washington state have 30 days from the arraignment to decide whether to seek the death penalty. The decision often is delayed if the defense needs more time to compile mitigation materials.

    Scherf isn't scheduled to be charged in Snohomish County Superior Court with Biendl's slaying until March 11 and arraigned on March 15. He was charged last month in Everett District Court, but that charge will be dismissed and refiled in Superior Court.

    On Tuesday, Roe said that he is not required to take the entire 30 days after Scherf's arraignment to make a decision on the death penalty, hinting it may come sooner. He said he already has reviewed Scherf's extensive prison and criminal records.

    "This is a somewhat unique situation in that the suspect has been a prison inmate for a good part of his adult life. Many records already exist," Roe said.

    Roe did not say whether this means he already has made up his mind.

    Roe said members of Biendl's family told him that they support the death penalty. But Roe said Tuesday that "there are steps that I intend to take before I make my decision."

    "One of those is meeting with Jayme's family, which I have done once and I will do again. Another is to meet with all of my senior deputies and review the case and [meet with] the law-enforcement folks who investigated it," Roe said. "I have a real benefit personally in that I have handled many homicide cases and two cases where the death penalty was sought. I think that experience will benefit me in being able to make a decision in a timely fashion."

    Everett lawyer Karen Halverson, who is leading Scherf's defense team, did not return phone calls or e-mails on Tuesday. Scherf, who has spent much of the past 30 years in prison, was serving a life sentence for his third rape conviction when the 34-year-old Biendl was slain on Jan. 29.

    Scherf, 52, told Monroe police that he waited for everyone to leave the prison chapel on Jan. 29 before approaching Biendl from behind and wrapping a cord around her neck, according to a probable-cause statement released by prosecutors. After the slaying, Scherf sat down in the chapel foyer and waited for prison staff to find him, according to the statement.

    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...scherf02m.html

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    Prosecutors oppose having Scherf unshackled in court

    Prosecutors say the man accused of killing a corrections officer is too dangerous to be unshackled during hearings.

    Prosecutors say the inmate accused of killing Monroe corrections officer Jayme Biendl has proven he is too dangerous to be unshackled during the court hearings.

    Byron Scherf "cannot be trusted with small freedoms; he uses them as manipulations and then patiently seizes the opportunity to commit the most egregious of acts," Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Paul Stern wrote in court documents filed Friday.

    There is a legitimate concern for the safety of court staff and county corrections officers, who are being asked by defense attorneys to use less restraints on a man accused of killing someone in their very profession, Stern wrote.

    Scherf is charged with aggravated murder in the Jan. 29 killing at the Washington State Reformatory. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Scherf, 52, already is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

    Stern on Friday a filed a response to the defense's earlier motion asking that Scherf be allowed to wear street clothes and remain unshackled during all court appearances.

    Defendants generally don't wear jail uniforms or shackles during trial. The state Supreme Court overturned a death sentence in Snohomish County on the grounds that jurors saw the defendant wearing leg irons during the penalty phase of the trial.

    Defendants who aren't free on bail, however, almost always attend pretrial hearings in jail garb and restraints.

    At the request of the Scherf's attorneys, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne allowed Scherf to wear a suit and sit free of shackles or handcuffs during the March 16 arraignment.

    The defense said that was and continues to be necessary to offset what they call "poisonous" pretrial publicity. They have accused prosecutors of engaging in an unethical media blitz to prejudice the public against Scherf.

    "This pretrial narrative is fundamentally prejudicial to the accused's rights to a fair trial, to the accused's presumption of innocence, and the right of the accused to have his fate decided by an impartial jury," wrote Jon Scott, an attorney with the Snohomish County Public Defender's Association.

    Media images of Scherf in shackles and a jail uniform will continue to perpetuate this narrative, the defense said.

    Prosecutors, however, argue that judges are able to seat impartial jurors in cases that receive media attention for years.

    The risks to corrections officers, to courtroom staff and to the defendant all outweigh a vague fear that some juror might be prejudiced by seeing Scherf in shackles. He's already serving a life sentence and now facing the death penalty for allegedly killing a corrections officer, Stern wrote.

    Wynne is expected to hear arguments on the motion later next month.

    http://www.heraldnet.com/article/201...WS01/703269943

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    Judge Allows Death Penalty If Scherf Convicted In Corrections Officer’s Slaying

    A judge ruled Monday that inmate Byron Scherf could receive the death penalty if he is convicted of killing a corrections officer.

    The 52-year-old Scherf is accused of killing Officer Jayme Biendl in January at the Monroe Correctional Facility.

    She was supervising Scherf in the facility's chapel when he strangled her, prosecutors said.

    Though Scherf has said he wants to be put to death for the slaying, in a pretrial motion Monday, Scherf’s defense asked the judge to throw out the death penalty as a sentencing option because of a technicality.

    Scherf’s attorney argued that prosecutors violated a state statute by filing their intent for a special sentence -- the death penalty -- before Scherf was arraigned.

    They contended that the law creates a window of time that notification has to be made, and prosecutors filed five minutes before the arraignment.

    The judge sided with prosecutors and denied the motion.

    The aggravated murder trial is scheduled to begin next March or April.

    http://www.kirotv.com/news/28509378/detail.html

  6. #6
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    Lawyers for man accused in Biendl slaying question judge's fairness

    Lawyers for the prisoner accused of killing Monroe corrections officer Jayme Biendl for a second time are asking for a new judge.

    They are claiming this time that Superior Court Thomas Wynne failed to uphold the law in another death penalty case and are again questioning the judge's ability to give Byron Scherf a fair trial.

    Defense attorneys Karen Halverson and Jon Scott filed a motion late last week asking that Wynne withdraw from the case. In their motion, they claim that Wynne is operating under a flawed understanding of the law and has ceded his authority in the past to Prosecuting Attorney Mark Roe.

    They go so far as to claim that there appeared to be a "wink-and-a-nod" agreement between Wynne and Roe in the 2006 retrial of convicted child killer Richard Clark.

    The way decisions have gone in Scherf's case "gives the appearance that Mr. Scherf will not be treated fairly unless it is the prosecutor who is soliciting that fair treatment," Scott wrote.

    Scherf, 53, is accused of ambushing Biendl a year ago inside the prison chapel at the Washington State Reformatory. The convicted rapist allegedly admitted to detectives that he strangled the corrections officer with an amplifier cord after he became upset over something he told investigators Biendl said earlier in the night.

    Scherf is serving a life sentence without hope of release for a series of attacks on women dating back to the 1970s. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Biendl's slaying.

    Halverson and Scott first asked Wynne to step down from the case in late September. The attorneys claimed that Wynne had demonstrated a bias and prejudice in favor of prosecutors and against their client.

    They hung their argument on an Aug. 3 hearing when they requested that Wynne order prosecutors to identify which information Roe considered before deciding to seek the death penalty for Scherf. Roe reached his decision before the defense lawyers provided any materials to persuade him to show Scherf leniency.

    Wynne denied the motion, ruling that Roe had substantial documents to consider because Scherf had spent most of his adult life in prison. The judge said he didn't have the authority to compel Roe to reveal his thought process.

    He also told the defense attorneys that they could still provide Roe with materials that may make the prosecutor reconsider seeking the death penalty.

    He referenced his experience in 2006 with the Richard Clark case. Roe, then a senior deputy prosecutor, also was assigned that case.

    Clark was convicted in 1997 of killing 7-year-old Roxanne Doll and sentenced to die. The state Supreme Court, however, found that a different trial judge erred when he allowed jurors to hear during the penalty phase some of the details of Clark's previous convictions.

    "(W)e reverse his death sentence and remand to the trial court where, if the state desires, a new special sentencing proceeding may take place," the justices wrote in their 2001 opinion.

    In the end, Wynne allowed prosecutors to withdraw their intent to seek the death penalty after Clark agreed to admit his involvement in the girl's death and waived further appeals. That resolution was supported by Roxanne's family. Clark is serving a life sentence in prison without parole.

    Scherf's attorneys argue that Wynne's 2006 decision was in conflict with case law. They cite a 1985 state Supreme Court decision, which they say clearly indicates that once the prosecutor files his notice to seek the death penalty, he can't abandon the effort. He is compelled to let a jury decide, the lawyers said.

    The defense attorneys wrote that they don't disagree with the end result in the Clark case. However, they accuse Wynne of ignoring the law in 2006 and continuing his misinterpretation in Scherf's case.

    The judge is either willing to let the prosecutors have powers beyond the law or has such deference for the prosecutors that the law can be ignored, Scott wrote.

    He and Halverson "cannot take the risk that this bias will percolate through Mr. Scherf's case ...," the public defender added.

    The motion also accuses Wynne of treating the defense with "sarcasm and scorn" at a January hearing that focused on preparations for next week's hearings to determine if jurors will be allowed to hear statements that Scherf allegedly made to detectives and corrections officers.

    The first time the defense team sought to have a new judge, prosecutors accused them of "judge shopping" and trying to intimidate Wynne.

    The judge declined to remove himself from the case. He told the defense they could renew their motion with another judge assigned by presiding Superior Court Judge Ellen Fair.

    http://www.heraldnet.com/article/201...WS01/702069879

  7. #7
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    Similar stories:


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    http://www.theolympian.com/2011/02/0...#ixzz1DTQuqYA3

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    Scherf’s lawyers fail to make prosecutor’s deadline for info

    By Diana Hefley
    Herald Writer

    EVERETT -- As of Monday afternoon Byron Scherf's attorneys hadn't sent Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Roe information for him to consider before deciding whether to seek the death penalty.

    Roe had given the defense until Monday to provide him with any information that may argue for leniency.

    Scherf, a convicted rapist, already is serving a life sentence without possibility of release. He now is charged with aggravated murder for the Jan. 29 strangulation death of corrections Officer Jayme Biendl at the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe.

    "I have not received anything," Roe said Monday afternoon. "I'll listen to anything they want to tell me."

    He already has reviewed a large amount of material that is available because of Scherf's lengthy history with the courts, Roe said.

    Scherf's lawyers said last month that they wouldn't be able to meet Roe's deadline. They sought an injunction to bar Roe from making a swift decision about the death penalty. They asked a judge to give them more time to gather information.

    No hearings have been scheduled for the injunction. Lawyers may be waiting for the criminal case to move into Superior Court before filing any motions.

    Scherf's lead attorney, Karen Halverson, couldn't be reached for comment on Monday.

    Regardless of what Roe decides, it will be up to a jury to decide if there are reasons to spare Scherf's life.

    Roe plans to meet with senior deputy prosecutors Wednesday to discuss the case. He also expects to talk with Biendl's family after the meeting, he said.

    Prosecutors have until Friday to refile the charge in Superior Court. Scherf could be arraigned as early as March 15. Under the law, Roe has 30 days after the arraignment to file an intent to seek the death penalty.

    Lawyers can ask the court for more time to compile and review any mitigation information, such as mental health history.

    In Scherf's case, much of his life has been documented through multiple trials and his three decades in prison. The state Department of Corrections has kept a detailed log of Scherf's behavior behind bars, including an in-depth risk assessment in 2001.

    That evaluation probed Scherf's violent criminal history and mental health. A corrections official concluded that Scherf is dangerous and should always be considered a risk to female staff.

    "Staff are concerned that his next victim could be a staff person," one corrections worker wrote June 1, 2001.

    Scherf has been serving a life sentence under the state's "three-strikes law" since 1997. He has convictions for rape and second-degree assault. All his victims have been women.

    Scherf is accused of attacking Biendl in the prison's chapel, where the officer worked alone. Evidence indicates that Biendl fought off the inmate until he was able to get a weapon -- an amplifier cord left on the chapel's stage.

    Scherf reportedly admitted that he strangled Biendl after he became angry with her over a conversation from earlier in the night. He allegedly told detectives that he deserves the death penalty for the killing.

    Biendl's family told Roe that they wish to see Scherf put to death.

    http://www.heraldnet.com/article/201...9922/-1/NEWS07

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    Prison guard slaying suspect warned of danger

    The prison inmate charged with murdering a corrections officer had warned staffers that he was dangerous and unable to control his behavior.

    Convicted rapist Byron Scherf spent a lot of his time at the Monroe prison writing letters to state officials. He mostly complained about his treatment and demanded more privileges.

    But The Everett Herald reports the 52-year-old often reminded people that his behavior is unpredictable, and on at least one occasion wrote that someone could get hurt if he didn't get what he wanted. He wrote he didn't plan to hurt anyone, but that it was possible.

    Scherf also repeatedly asked for sex-offender treatment and said he couldn't control his compulsions. The corrections department refused the treatment that's reserved for inmates expected to be released.

    Scherf could face the death penalty if he's convicted of killing 34-year-old Jayme Biendl.

    Scherf is accused of killing Biendl in a chapel at the Monroe Correctional Complex in January.

    http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=459364

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    DOC fined $26,000 in Biendl death investigation

    TUMWATER, Wash. -- The Department of Corrections was fined $26,000 by the Department of Labor and Industries as a result of their six-month investigation into the death of corrections officer Jayme Biendl at the Monroe Correctional Complex.

    Prosecutors say Biendl was strangled by prison inmate Byron Scherf on Jan. 29. Scherf is charged with aggravated murder and could face the death penalty.

    Officials with L&I say their investigation found two serious safety violations and one repeat of a previous serious safety violation, determining there were problems with training, policies not being enforced, and safety policies that were not tailored to the workplace.

    L&I determined the workplace safety violations resulted in several opportunities where prison staff could have responded to or noted Officer Biendl's absence much sooner had the DOC's existing policies been consistently followed or had certain policies been in place.

    The $26,000 penalty is nearly the maximum amount allowed, under L&I guidelines and the DOC will have 15 days to appeal.

    http://www.komonews.com/news/local/126269048.html

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