SEATTLE, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Lawyers for a Washington state woman charged with killing her parents and four other relatives on Christmas Eve 2007 are fighting to spare her from execution.
Michele Anderson and her boyfriend, Joseph McEnroe, are both charged under the state's death penalty statute, Seattlepi.com reported Thursday. They allegedly shot Wayne and Judy Anderson at their home in Carnation and then killed Anderson's brother, Scott, his wife, Erica, and their children, Olivia, 6, and Nathan, 3, when they showed up to spend Christmas Eve there.
Anderson, who was arrested almost immediately, allegedly told police she felt her parents did not pay enough attention to her. She and McEnroe were living on the parents' property at the time of the massacre.
While lawyers have been attacking the state death penalty law, Anderson has said in letters from prison she wants to be put to death.
Pam Mantle, Erica Anderson's mother, said she is tired of the slow pace of the proceedings.
"I'm getting tired of waiting to find out when we'll have a trial," Mantle said after a recent hearing.
