Forgiving, not forgetting
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Pat Shannahan/The
Arizona Republic
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Phramaha Phaisit Dhammaraso pushes Goodyear the dog on
a cart while doing daily chores on temple grounds. He is
accompanied by Phramaha Srinin Srisaen.
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By Brent Whiting
The
Arizona Republic
Aug. 12, 2001
12:00:00
The massacre took place 10 years ago in a circle of saffron and
blood.
Nine people, including six Buddhist monks in their
orange-yellow robes, lying on the floor like the spokes of a wheel,
were shot to death.
Some died with their hands clasped in final prayer.
The shocking slaughter of defenseless people in August 1991
by two Valley teenagers was the worst mass murder in Arizona since
the Indian wars before statehood in 1912.
But time, aided perhaps by the power of Buddhist philosophy,
has done its healing work in the West Valley community of Wat
Promkunaram.
Just a few feet from where the bodies of the Thai monks once
lay, monks in orange-yellow robes recently sat down to computer
keyboards for a class on surfing the Internet.
The monks say that they won't forget what happened 10 years
ago, but that their Buddhist philosophy dissuades them from worldly
emotions such as revenge, anger or hatred for the killers.
Wichit Vetan, a monk, said people still ask him about the
massacre. Vetan said he replies that today's good deeds are more
important than yesterday's evils.
"We want to circulate good things to all people," Vetan said.
"We like them to be happy and peaceful."
Barbra Heller, a temple member, said the focus at Wat
Promkunaram is on today rather than the terrible deeds that took
place 10 years ago.
"In Buddhism, they teach you not to dwell," Heller said.
"What's happened has happened. You let it go. You can't change it.
Tomorrow's not here. You live in the moment."
Paitoon Fongkaeo, consul for the Royal Thai Consulate General
in Los Angeles, said the murders still stir memories in Thailand and
the Thai community in the United States.
Still, he said, "I think, in the Buddhist tradition, that a
sense of forgiveness prevails in this case."
In 1991, the massacre sparked front-page news in Thailand and
triggered an international investigation when authorities scrambled
not only for the killers but also for a motive.
Questions swirled around the murders of the unresisting
innocents. Was it a hate crime? The deed of a psychotic murderer? A
robbery gone awry?
These were some of the theories that were racing around the
Valley.
In their haste, Valley law enforcement officials initially
compounded the tragedy by botching the investigation. They jailed
innocent people, used questionable methods of interrogation and
ultimately provoked multimillion-dollar lawsuits.
Now, a decade later, the number of supporters at the temple,
Wat Promkunaram, has more than doubled to 500, and the compound west
of Luke Air Force Base has expanded to handle the growth.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was swept into office during the
fallout over the bungled probe, is in his third four-year term.
Two students from an Avondale high school, Johnathan Doody, a
Thai native whose brother frequented the temple, and friend
Alessandro "Alex" Garcia eventually were convicted, and each was
sentenced to nearly 300 years in prison.
Their motive for killing nine innocent people: small-time
robbery. The reward: cameras, electronic equipment and $2,790 in
cash.
What happened?
The L-shaped, walled temple sits in the far West Valley
amid homes and cotton fields. F-16 fighter jets from Luke roar
overhead.
The slaughter was discovered when a worker showed up early
to prepare a meal for the monks. The bodies were found in a sea
of blood on a carpeted floor near the living quarters.
The
slain monks were Pairuch Kanthong, 36, the temple abbot; Somsak
Sopha, 46; Sian Ginggaeo, 35; Surichai Anuttaro, 33; Chalerm
Chantapim, 31; and Boonchuay Chaiyarach, 37.
Also gunned down were Foi Sripanprasert, 75, a temple nun;
her grandson, Matthew Lee Miller, 17, a monk-in-training; and
Chirasak Chirapong, 21, a temple helper.
Evidence shows that Doody, then 17, and Garcia, then 16,
armed with a 20-gauge pump shotgun and .22-caliber rifle and wearing
military clothing and gear, showed up at the temple on a Friday
night, Aug. 9, 1991, at about midnight.
Both were enrolled in the Air Force ROTC program at Agua Fria
High School and shared an interest in military operations. At a base
store at Luke, they purchased clothing and gear used in the robbery,
including snow boots, camouflage hats, scarves for their faces,
military belts, goggles and battle harnesses on which to carry
knives and flashlights.
They also constructed a homemade silencer for the rifle, but
it failed when they were testing it in the White Tank Mountains.
Later, Doody's lawyer would attempt to portray the massacre
as a "war game" that went horribly awry.
However, a prosecutor described Doody as a "stone-cold
killer," who had plotted with Garcia for two months to rob the
temple and eliminate the witnesses.
Doody's younger brother, David, a temple novice, unknowingly
may have fueled the scheme by telling Doody and Garcia that there
was gold at the temple and that some of the monks kept money and
guns in their rooms, court records show.
At Doody's trial, Garcia testified that he and Doody "talked
about it every day," discussing how to carry out the robbery.
"At first, it was just robbery. Then eventually, it turned
into basically, 'Let's go ahead and shoot them,' " Garcia told
jurors.
Garcia, who pleaded guilty and testified against Doody at
Doody's trial, told jurors that after ransacking the temple, the two
arranged the unresisting victims on the floor. Then, he said, he and
Doody exchanged glances. Then they started to fire.
Garcia testified that he wanted to leave without harming
anybody, but Doody told him, "No witnesses."
Experts said all nine victims died of .22-caliber wounds to
the back and side of the head. Some also suffered shotgun wounds.
Doody, who did not take the stand, was convicted largely on
Garcia's testimony and on Doody's admission to investigators that he
was at the temple during the massacre.
Garcia struck a deal with prosecutors that allowed him to
escape the death penalty in return for his testimony against Doody.
Doody avoided a death sentence after a judge said he couldn't
conclude beyond a reasonable doubt whether it was Doody or Garcia
who fired the .22-caliber rifle that killed the nine. The judge said
another factor was the plea bargain struck with Garcia that spared
him from death.
"It is only these rather unique set of circumstances . . .
that saves this defendant (Doody) from a death sentence," the judge
said in his ruling.
Doody is incarcerated in a prison at Florence. Garcia was
placed in an out-of-state prison that the Arizona Department of
Corrections won't identify.
Both refused requests from The Arizona Republic for
interviews.
Botched investigation
Within a week of the slayings, a task force representing
several law enforcement agencies joined with the Maricopa County
Sheriff's Office in investigating the case.
The
initial result "was not a shining moment" for law enforcement,
Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley said recently.
An apparent break in the case came when five Tucson residents
were taken into custody in September 1991, four of them charged with
the murders after confessing to them.
But the break was a bust. The four, ages 19 to 28, recanted
their confessions and claimed they'd been coerced by sheriff's
deputies.
Some said they were weary and confused after being denied
food, sleep and phone calls. They confessed, they said, because they
were tired.
Some also later testified that, before their interrogations,
they were placed in a room containing charts and photographs
pertaining to the murder. This, they said, gave them the information
they dutifully fed back to questioners.
Eventually, they won a lawsuit for false arrest.
None of the four could be reached for comment. M.E. "Buddy"
Rake, a Phoenix lawyer for Leo Valdez Bruce, one of the four, said
Bruce took part of his $1.1 million share from the lawsuit
settlement and earned an associate's degree as an X-ray technician.
Authorities eventually concluded that then-Sheriff Tom Agnos
and high-ranking deputies bowed to political pressure and conducted
a slipshod investigation.
They said the case was mismanaged from the beginning by Agnos
and others, some of whom chided and berated deputies who doubted the
guilt of the Tucson suspects.
In addition, Agnos and others wasted untold dollars and
man-hours in a vain attempt to link the Tucson men to the massacre,
sheriff's officials said in 1993 following an internal investigation
of the temple case.
"If there's anything good that came out of it, it made us
re-evaluate the way we do things," Romley said earlier this month.
"And we changed things dramatically."
Prosecutors now impose higher standards on Valley law
enforcement agencies concerning how investigations are conducted and
confessions obtained, Romley said.
Arpaio, who inherited the temple case after taking office in
January 1993, said earlier this month, "My detectives don't rely
solely on confessions. I insist upon other corroborating evidence."
Looking back
Romley, the county attorney, eventually ordered in
November 1991 that charges against the Tucson suspects, who had been
incarcerated for two months, be dropped. He said last week that it
was the right call but an agonizing one.
"What if I was wrong?" Romley said. "It was difficult. It was
my toughest decision."
In November 1993, Arpaio made a public apology to the four
Tucson men charged, then cleared, in the massacre.
"I thought it was the right thing to do," Arpaio said last
week.
Agnos, who was voted out as sheriff in a 1992 primary
election in the wake of the debacle, has maintained a low public
profile since then. Inquiries to him are directed through his wife,
Shirley, the president of Arizona Town Hall.
Tom Agnos said last week that the massacre was a terrible
thing, but that it's time for Arizona to let go and move forward.
At the temple, an outdoor memorial honors the nine victims.
The hexagonal structure has brightly colored tiles and sits atop a
lily pad pond.
Temple Abbot Winai Booncham said those who died are
remembered each year. There are memorial services in August,
including ones scheduled for Aug. 18-19. More than 70 monks from
across the United States will join with other people attending the
services.
Prukong Garland, the temple treasurer said, "We forgive, but
we never forget."
Vetan, the monk, said Buddhists believe the spirit will leave
the body when somebody dies in danger. Some believe they have been
visited in dreams by the slain monks, he said.
"We cannot see them anymore," Vetan said, "but I think they
can still see us."
Republic reporter Elizabeth Neuse contributed to this
article. Reach the reporter at brent.whiting@arizonarepublic.com
or (602) 444-6925.
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