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It's death
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After four hours’ deliberation a Jackson County jury hands
down a capital sentence in the Acremant trial
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by Inga Sorensen
hen an Oregon jury sentenced
Robert James Acremant, 29, to
death for killing Michelle Abdill
and Roxanne Ellis, Cherie Gar­
land felt no elation.
“They could cut him into a million pieces.. .but
the fact is, it won’t bring the girls back,” says
Garland, who along with her husband, Gerald,
was a close friend of the Medford lesbian couple.
Not only that, but because Acremant received
the death penalty, as opposed to life in prison, the
decision automatically goes to the Oregon Su­
preme Court for an appeal.
“I’ve heard the process could take anywhere
from three to 10 years,” says Garland, who lives
in Ashland and is a member of Parents, Family
and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. “In so many
ways, this is far from over.”
He also reportedly said that he didn’t “care for
lesbians.”
Acremant pleaded guilty to two counts of
aggravated murder, and initially asked law en­
forcement officials to help him get the death
penalty.
After several months of sitting in a prison cell,
however, Acremant’s attorneys say their client
changed his mind and was aiming for life in
prison.
Nearly two years after the murders, Acremant
went before a jury. The proceedings, held in
Jackson County Circuit Court, began Sept. 23.
During the trial, the prosecution described
Acremant as having a “death kit,” a black duffel
bag whose contents included guns, handcuffs and
disguises. According to Deputy District Attorney
John Bondurant, Acremant planned to utilize the
kit for more killings and robberies.
n Oct. 27, after just four hours of delibera­
Defense attorney Mark Rader, meanwhile,
tion, jurors sentenced Acremant to death
urged jurors to sentence Acremant not to death,
by lethal injection for his double murder of but to life behind bars.
Abdill and Ellis.
“Don’t cut his punishment short,” he said.
The couple’s bound bodies were found Dec. 7,
“Let this smart man sit behind prison walls and
1995, in the back of Ellis’ truck in an apartment
suffer every day the pain he created.”
complex parking lot in
The 12-person jury
M edford, a city of
unanimously opted for
The prosecution described
55,000 near the Cali­
the prosecution’s re­
Acremant
as
having
a
udeath
fornia border.
quest: death.
The duo had lived
That, too, was the
kit a black duffel bag whose choice
in Medford for five
of Ellis’ daugh­
years and owned a lo­
contents included guns hand­ ter, Lorri Ellis. Lorri
cal property manage­
and her young daugh­
cuffs and disguises. According ter were living in
ment company. Abdill,
42, and Ellis, 53, had to Deputy District A ttorney John Medford when the mur-
been killed execution-
ders were committed.
style: two bullets each
Bondurant Acremant planned
During the trial, she
to the head.
said, “I lost my house, I
to utilize the kit for more
Acremant, who had
lost my career, I lost all
fled to his native Cali­
of my goals, my
killings and robberies.
fornia, was arrested six
dreams, and it pretty
Defense attorney Mark Rader much financially ru­
days after the killings
were discovered. He
ined me for who knows
meanwhile urged jurors:
was picked up in Stock-
how long.”
Don *t cut his punishment short. When the sentence
ton after his mother rec­
ognized her son from a
came down, Ellis told
Let
this
smart
man
sit
behind
police sketch and
The Associated Press,
turned him in.
prison walls and suffer every “ [I] know that he
Acremant freely ad-
doesn’t have any re­
day the pain he created. ”
m itted k illing the
morse for what he did.
women, as well as mur­
Now it may put a little
dering Scott George of Visalia, Calif., the son of
fear in him for what my mom felt the day he killed
a friend of his mother’s, during a night of heavy
her.”
drinking. (Acremant confessed to that slaying,
Ellis has since moved with her daughter back
too, but has not entered a plea and a trial date is
to Colorado Springs, Colo., where she grew up.
pending.)
During an interview in a prison visitation
erald and Cherie Garland pondered what
room, Acremant—who has been described as a
■Abdill and Ellis would have thought about
frustrated failure both in business and personal
the sentence.
relationships— maintained he did not know that
“We were just discussing that,” Cherie said,
Abdill and Ellis were activists in the lesbian and
when contacted the day after the jury’s decision.
gay community, and did not realize they were
“Roxanne and Michelle were such loving and
lesbians when he initially targeted them.
forgiving people and devout Christians,” says
Acremant said the killings stemmed from a
Cherie. “They had so much compassion.”
botched robbery attempt. He also told police he
Gerald adds, “They would have had compas­
had been despondent after his girlfriend, a Las
sion for Acremant’s family.”
Vegas stripper, ended a relationship with him and
While the murders have left much pain in their
he lost his job with a Los Angeles trucking com­ wake, the Garlands say they want to focus on the
positive, namely the creation of the Abdill-Ellis
pany.
Acremant commented that sexual orientation
Lambda Community Center, a Victorian house in
Ashland that serves as a meeting space for sexual
had nothing to do with the murders, but added the
minorities and their friends.
fact that the women were lesbians— information
“The moment you walk in, you sense the
Acremant says he soon surmised and later con­
love,” says Cherie.
firmed when he reportedly asked Ellis point blank
“Every day there’s something going on over
whether she and Abdill were lesbians— “made it
there,” adds Gerald.
easier (to kill them].”
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