Ken Arrasmith vows not to give up his fight.
Found guilty of two counts of murder in November, he is awaiting sentencing in February. Then comes the appeal of the conviction and a civil lawsuit against officials in Asotin County he charges did nothing to protect his daughter from being raped by Ronald and Luella Bingham, he said.His main goal is to campaign to make child sexual abuse a federal offense so it is taken more seriously, he said.
Two books are being written about the case and there have been several TV movie offers. The so-called vigilante homicide already has been the subject of several national news magazines talk shows, including a Phil Donahue show to air in January.
Arrasmith, 44, a Clarkston, Wash., native, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of Ron and Luella Bingham.
Nez Perce County Prosecutor Denise Rosen said she will not seek the death penalty. Rosen said Arrasmith had no right to take the law into his own hands.
Arrasmith admitted he shot the Clarkston couple May 17 outside a Lewiston auto repair shop. He testified during his trial he did not intend to kill them, but wanted them to confess on tape that they had sexually tortured his teenage daughter, Cynthia.
A former Asotin County Sheriffs deputy, he remembered being present during a search of their home after child-abuse charges were made against them in the 1970s. He was nearly driven mad by the knowledge of what they had done to Cynthia, he said.
Second District Judge Ida Rudolph Leggett ruled Arasmith's attorneys could not use an Idaho law that states killing is justified if done to protect oneself or others in imminent danger.
Leggett said at the time of the shootings no one was in immediate danger.