SPOKANE, WA, March 19, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A suspected serial killer is offering an unusual defense to try to avoid punishment for murdering at least three women: Because he had a sex change operation in 2000 and now lives as a woman himself, he argues he is now a completely different person and cannot be held responsible for anything he may have done before the operation, reports KXLY.com.
Douglas Perry, 63, who now goes by “Donna,” was arrested late last year after DNA evidence linked him to the murders of prostitutes Yolanda Sapp, Kathleen Brisbois and Nickie Lowe, whose bodies were all found unclothed in the Spokane River in 1990 with fatal gunshot wounds. He is being held in Spokane County Jail under $1 million bond on three counts of first degree murder.
Police linked Perry to the murders of the three women using fingerprint evidence and DNA found under the victims’ fingernails. They also found the car Perry was driving at the time of the murders. Under the front passenger floor mat was a .22 caliber cartridge that was a perfect match to bullets recovered from the victims.
But Perry insists that as “Donna,” he’s never killed anyone, and that his new status as a woman means the alleged murderer no longer exists.
“I’m not going to admit I killed anybody,” Perry told investigators, according to court documents. “I didn’t. Donna has killed nobody.”
“Doug did,” replied a police officer.
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“I don’t know if Doug did or not. It was 20 years ago and I have no idea whether he did or didn’t,” Perry said.
Court records show that Perry has been convicted in the past for felony assault, firearms and explosives violations, as well as for soliciting a prostitute in 1989 – just a year before the three women were killed. In 2012, he served time in a women’s prison in Texas for illegally purchasing firearms and ammunition as a felon, and reportedly told his female cellmate that he had killed nine prostitutes in Washington “because [he] couldn't breed and the women had the ability to have children and they were wasting it being ‘pond scum.’” He also called himself a “sociopath.”
Perry was hauled into court Tuesday on a “drag order” after having refused to appear for a scheduled hearing Monday. The hearing lasted less than four minutes, during which Perry’s attorney focused almost exclusively on getting Perry’s first name officially changed to “Donna” on the jail roster.
“Ms. Perry is legally Donna Perry,” his attorney told the court. “I would like an order to reflect this change so I don't go to jail and they say she's not here because she's under her prior name.”
The court agreed to the change. Perry’s next hearing is scheduled for March 25.