PORT ANGELES — “I want McKenna and I cremated as soon as possible and for all of you to take us to the spit and spread our ashes.”
That was Rhonda Marchi’s wish for her and her 10-year-old daughter the evening of Christmas Day 2006, according to three identical suicide letters titled “last will and testament,” copies of which she allegedly left in her kitchen and neatly placed side by side in her dining room.
Marchi, now 44, had laced grape juice with crushed prescription pills.
She drank the concoction and had her daughter unknowingly drink it, and they both became unconscious, according to court records.
Marchi awoke almost four hours later at about 2 a.m. and phoned 9-1-1, saving her daughter’s life, according to court records.
Marchi’s trial for first-degree attempted murder began this week in Clallam County Superior Court. It will resume on Monday.
If convicted, she could be sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.
Dimished capacity
She watched her daughter testify for the prosecution while she herself will claim “diminished capacity” brought about by “three different disorders” as a defense, Gary Sund, one of her two lawyers, said Thursday.
Marchi’s daughter identified the signature on the suicide letter as her mother’s.
Marchi is being defended by Public Defender Harry Gasnick, with Sund, of Sequim, assisting.
The defense will begin presenting its case Monday, Gasnick said Thursday.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ann Lundwall presented the suicide letter to the jury Wednesday.
It included admonitions to various people, including family members and a former husband, A.J. Hardee, whom she claimed physically and mentally abused her.
Marchi’s daughter was going to live with him in Idaho, according to testimony.
“I am afraid of what would have happened to McKenna if I didn’t take her to Heaven with me,” Marchi said in the letter, an assertion she made to several friends, according to testimony.
One witness for the defense will testify that Marchi “wanted to save McKenna from her father by going to Heaven,” Sund said.
Hardee said his daughter, now 12, has fully recovered. He declined to say more until after the trial is over.
Hardee was on the list as a possible witness for the prosecution.
“After 41 years I could take no more and was not even remotely strong enough for the battle or abuse anymore,” Marchi wrote in her letter.
She ended with an apology: “Please forgive me for the pain; I know this is not an easy task. I love you all [with] all of my heart and will see you all again one day.”
According to court records, police brought to the house by Marchi’s 9-1-1 call found her and her daughter in bed.
Marchi walked out of the house with assistance, but her daughter was unconscious and could not be revived.
Olympic Medical Center doctors said the two had ingested lethal doses of opiates and benzodiazepine, psychoactive drugs used for severe insomnia or anxiety.
The girl told police “white chunks” were in the grape juice her mother gave her and that it “tasted bad,” according to court documents.
Marchi told her daughter, who said she had an upset stomach, “to drink it all, and she would feel better,” according to the documents.
The girl told police she “went to sleep” some time after 10 p.m. on Christmas night while her mother was writing a letter on a computer.
The girl remained unconscious for more than 24 hours, according to court records.
“Physicians at the Olympic Medical Center emergency room informed officers that the pills taken appeared to be a lethal amount if not treated.”
Six empty prescription bottles were found on the kitchen countertop, including the narcotic Vicodin and the antidepressant Trazodone.
Four of the prescriptions had been filled within the previous 20 days, according to court records.
The trial is taking place in the courthouse at the same time as the second-degree murder trial of Andrea Freese, who is charged with second-degree murder in the July 28, 2007, death of William Boze.
That trial is also scheduled to continue next week, with the defense presenting its case beginning Monday, Public Defender John Hayden said Thursday.
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Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
