Darrell Eugene Lee, the once-prominent Clark County businessman and attorney whose most notable client was child killer Westley Allan Dodd, died Tuesday morning at a Vancouver care facility. He was 74 years old.
Lee, who had his own law firm, also owned several cardrooms in Clark County, and opened the first in La Center in 1985. Later, he transitioned into real estate development in Vancouver, Fiji and south Texas.
As Dodd’s attorney, he helped the notorious killer achieve his wish to be executed. He became the first person to be executed in Washington since 1965. Dodd, then 31, was sentenced to die after pleading guilty to molesting and killing Vancouver brothers William and Cole Neer, ages 10 and 11, and Lee Iseli, 4, of Portland.
Lee, once dubbed by the Seattle Times as a “flamboyant figure in Southwest Washington,” at times had a contentious history in Clark County.
“He’s never been one to shy away from controversy,” Lee’s oldest son, Angus Lee, 38, said Tuesday.
When asked if he saw his dad as flamboyant, the younger Lee said, “As he used to say, ‘When you got it, you got it.’ ”
Darrell Lee began practicing law in Washington in 1969. He spent four years as a prosecutor in Seattle and Kelso before moving to Vancouver in the ’70s. Lee ran twice as a Republican for Clark County prosecuting attorney, and once for a seat in the state House of Representatives. He eventually built up a private practice. His civic activities included service as the first president of the Share social service agency.
Dodd’s case fell to Lee in April 1991 after Dodd complained that his court-appointed attorneys were raising appeal issues he didn’t want to pursue. Those attorneys were removed by the court, and Lee, who had expressed interest in the case, stepped in and worked to meet Dodd’s request to be executed.
Angus Lee said his father had represented numerous clients in death-penalty cases and won reprieves for each.
After Dodd was executed in 1993, however, Darrell Lee scaled back his law practice. “I don’t think he wanted to do too much after the Dodd case. I think that case had a more significant toll than anyone could have imagined,” Angus Lee said.
Instead, Darrell Lee turned to his business ventures, which over the years included running Portland Meadows racetrack and cardrooms in Vancouver and La Center.
“He was a driving force behind building those cardrooms and getting that whole process going,” Angus Lee said. “I remember at the time that it was legalized cardrooms and gambling were kind of controversial deals … So, it was a perfect match.”
Darrell Lee’s interest in the racetrack started when he was a child. Born in 1941 in Kent, Lee was the sixth of seven children and the only boy. He graduated second from last in his class at Foster High School. Because his family was so poor, he worked most of his life, Angus Lee said.
Darrell Lee worked his first job at the age of 7.
“He would go to (Longacres) racetrack before school and hot-walk the horses. Then, he would go to school with horse manure on his shoes,” his son said.
As a teenager, Darrell Lee spent his summers as a long-haul truck driver, like his father.
After high school, he attended the University of Washington but didn’t complete his schooling. He then joined the Air Force and was stationed at Dyess Air Force Base near Abilene, Texas. It was during his stint in Texas that he met his wife, Vicki, and graduated from Baylor Law School.
“I think he went into law because he wanted to open up his own shop. He wanted to control his own destiny,” Angus Lee said.
Law also fit his showman personality, his son said. “He enjoyed telling the story of a case to an audience. I think that’s why he did it so well,” he said. His father, Angus Lee added, “loved the contest of intellect.”
Former Clark County Prosecutor Art Curtis said Thursday that he tried several cases against Darrell Lee. “In his prime, he was clearly the best criminal defense attorney around,” he said.
Curtis described Lee as a “very smart man” and “a real character.”
Defense attorney Steve Thayer, who was an associate at Lee’s practice from 1977 to 1982, called Lee “a brilliant criminal lawyer.”
“I always admired him and was grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from him,” he said.
Lee was no stranger to trouble himself.
He went to jail twice — once for contempt of court and another time for sitting on railroad tracks in front of a train carrying nuclear weapons in Vancouver. A federal appeals court later wiped Lee’s criminal record clean, and he was never charged in the nuclear weapons protest.
Even into his 60s, Lee hiked the Pacific Crest Trail by himself. His wife would drive him to the trail in Oregon and he’d walk for days — 50 to 100 miles.
Lee suffered from Parkinson’s disease and his health began to rapidly deteriorate after suffering a stroke about two years ago. “It’s been a tough battle for the last two years, but he’s always been very positive about it,” Angus Lee said.
Lee is survived by his wife, Vicki; his four children, Brittani, Tiffani, Angus and Austin; 11 grandchildren; and six sisters.
The family will hold a memorial at 11 a.m. Dec. 5 at New Heights West church in downtown Vancouver.
