Felony murder - Lydia Marie Way, 24, will serve at least 25 years for the killing of phone sex client attorney Douglas Swanson of Social Security law firm Swanson Thomas and Coon

 December 16, 2006
When the judge said the words "felony murder" Friday, it all became real to Lydia Marie Way.

She said she never intended for Douglas Swanson to die that night two years ago, but he did. And she had to admit that she was responsible.

But she hesitated. Her lawyers asked for a break. They took Way, 24, to a corner of Courtroom 308 and sat around her. She bent her head. Her long, brown hair fell around her, and she cried.

On the night of Oct. 19, 2004, Way lured Swanson of Swanson, Thomas and Coon, 51, through a telephone sex line as the attorney sought out sex with a prostitute, after completing a PTA meeting earlier that night, to a North Albina Avenue apartment she shared with her boyfriend, Stuwart Edward Lueb, 34. Way and Lueb were meth addicts, police say.

When Swanson arrived, Lueb hit the Portland attorney, bound him and slipped a sleeping bag over his head, prosecutors allege. Then Lueb and Way put Swanson in the back of his own car and drove around Portland as Way withdrew cash and made purchases on Swanson's bank card, police say. Sometime early Oct. 20, Swanson asphyxiated.

Authorities say Lueb drove the car to the Mount Hood National Forest and dumped the body.

Later that day, a Portland police officer stopped Lueb in Swanson's car, according to police reports. Police say that when they searched the North Albina apartment, they found a notebook with a detailed plan to rob "the attorney" in an outdoor trash container.

Lueb was arrested, and in exchange for leading authorities to Swanson's body, prosecutors say they agreed not to seek the death penalty. He still faces trial.

Way had no such bargaining chip, and for two years, she had to prepare for an aggravated-murder trial in which she, but not Lueb, faced the prospect of capital punishment.

But Way's case ended this week, when she signed an agreement with prosecutors to say that even though she did not intend the murder, Swanson died while she committed a felony, the robbery. She will testify against Lueb at his trial in February.
When she is sentenced March 13, Way will receive a life term with the possibility of release in 25 years. At the request of her lawyers, prosecutors have written an unusual letter to the release board asking that she be freed at 25 years.

Friday's hearing before Circuit Judge Marshall Amiton was scheduled to complete the agreement. Swanson's law partner, Raymond Thomas, represented his family; half a dozen of Way's relatives and friends filled a row in the gallery and smiled at Way when she walked in.

As the judge went over the plea agreement, Way answered his questions with a strong, clear "yes." But then Amiton got to the part about felony murder. Way grew teary. One of her lawyers asked for a recess.


The defense huddled in the corner of the courtroom for a few minutes as Way sobbed. Then they went into a jury room for privacy. Twenty minutes later, Way collected herself, and the hearing resumed.

Amiton asked, "You OK?"

She nodded.

The judge said, "In the course of the robbery, Mr. Swanson died."

Way paused a moment, then simply replied, "Yes."