King County Superior Court Judge Michael Ryan on Friday stopped a senior deputy prosecutor from reciting the facts of Charles Becker’s crimes out loud, saying that everyone in his courtroom knew the horrific details and Ryan did not want to see anyone retraumatized in the telling.
He made clear from the bench that he would send Becker, 33, to prison for life if he could for murdering 56-year-old Mavis Kindness Nelson, a member of the Rock Creek band of the Yakama Nation who was reported missing in Seattle in May 2022, a month before her dismembered remains were found discarded in a University District ravine.
“The facts of this case are unlike any this court has ever seen,” Ryan said, adding that the superlatives “horrific” and “gruesome” don’t even begin to capture Becker’s “extreme depravity.”
