Elder Cramm now asks to testify

By Scott North

Herald Writer

Dale Cramm knows he's done wrong.

He wasn't always a good role model for his son, Dennis Cramm, 18. He helped set the stage for a May 30 fistfight at his former south Everett home that ended in gunfire and the deaths of two teen-agers.

When the time came in February for Dale Cramm to testify at his son's double-murder trial, he invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

His son's attorney had hoped the elder Cramm, 45, would tell jurors that his son saved his life, that Dennis Cramm opened fire with a military-style rifle that night at a time when Dale Cramm was on his knees, pleading for his life, with a gun stuck in his face.

Instead of helping his son, however, Dale Cramm decided to look out for himself.

"I made mistakes," he told The Herald on Tuesday. "There is no doubt about it. Look where he is."

The elder Cramm is making a belated attempt to tell his side of what happened that night. On Tuesday, he signed legal papers saying he realizes he should have testified at his son's trial, regardless of the potential personal consequences.

"I am now willing to waive my right to remain silent and am willing to testify at trial voluntarily," Dale Cramm said in court papers. "It's taken me until today to gather the strength to be willing to testify, no matter what the results are for me."

Dennis Cramm's attorney, Royce Ferguson, filed the elder Cramm's statement as part of an eleventh-hour attempt to win a new trial for his client.

Dennis Cramm was convicted Feb. 26 of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Jason Thompson and Jesse Stoner, both 18. He is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday. Prosecutors say the younger Cramm faces a minimum 51 years behind bars.

Dale Cramm does not explain in court papers why he did not testify at his son's trial, except to say he took that step at the advice of his attorney. He told a reporter, however, that prosecutors threatened him into silence.

That's something prosecutors flatly deny.

"Dale Cramm was given the opportunity to testify during the trial, and on the advice of his attorney decided to exercise his Fifth Amendment rights," deputy prosecutor Ed Stemler said. "I don't think the court should allow him to wait and see what the verdict was and change his mind and try to get his son a new trial that way."

Dale Cramm's sudden willingness to testify does not provide legal grounds for a new trial, because his testimony is not newly discovered evidence, said Jim Townsend, the county's chief criminal deputy prosecutor.

"It is gamesmanship that will not result in a new trial, I'm convinced," he said.

Ferguson said he was surprised when the elder Cramm showed up at his office on Monday and told his son's lawyer that he'd made a mistake. Dale Cramm had promised to testify on his son's behalf, and his decision not to was a surprise and a betrayal that undermined the defense's efforts to show Dennis Cramm fired in defense of himself and others, Ferguson said.

The attorney said he's still not certain about the elder Cramm's sincerity. Part of his motion would require Dale Cramm to be questioned, under oath, so his testimony can be preserved in case he later changes his mind, Ferguson said.

He added that he thinks Dale Cramm's actions at this point may be more helpful to his son's attempts to appeal his conviction.

"My thinking is better late than never," Ferguson said. "It is nothing we could have forced him to do."

In his declaration, Dale Cramm alleges the Cramms were repeatedly threatened with death in the days leading up to the May 30 shootings. When the fight between his son and another teen escalated into gunfire, Dale Cramm said he saw one of the participants, Anthony Bovan, 21, grab a shotgun that the Cramms had put out in their yard before the fists began to fly.

"I ran after Bovan and he pointed another handgun in my face," Dale Cramm wrote. "This was in front of the car that got shot. I was yelling, 'Don't shoot me, I'm not armed,' while the gun was pointed in my face. I held up my hands and got on my knees while the gun was in my face. I was afraid I was going to be killed right then. At exactly the same time I was fearing for my life, I heard the shots coming from behind me. Those shots saved my life because they caused Bovan to run. ... I believed that it was Dennis' shots that saved my life. I honestly believe I would be dead now if it weren't for my son's actions."

At trial, Bovan, who pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, denied pointing a gun at the elder Cramm. Other witnesses, however, described seeing him pointing a weapon at an older man who was begging for his life.

Dale Cramm alleged that many of the people who testified at his son's trial lied about what happened that night. He said he knew he should have testified on his son's behalf, but exactly when he reached that conclusion was not clear.

At one point in the interview, Dale Cramm said he decided within two hours after he left the courtroom. At another point he said, "I knew I had done the wrong thing the minute I walked out of the courtroom, sir."

Dale Cramm said he's spoken to his son since the trial, and has promised his assistance.

"My heart is in jail with him," he said.