Closing arguments delivered in wrongful death trial on behalf of Susan Cox Powell’s sons
Attorneys gave closing arguments Wednesday in a case brought by Susan Cox Powell’s parents against the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services.
The trial started in February and was interrupted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jurors are set to start deliberating Thursday.
Judith and Charles Cox filed the wrongful death lawsuit alleging the state didn’t do enough to keep their 7-year-old and 5-year-old grandsons safe from their father, who killed the boys in 2012.
Braden and Charlie Powell were killed by Josh Powell during a supervised visit at his Graham-area rental home. He attacked the boys with a hatchet and set the house on fire. Josh Powell also died.
Josh Powell was being investigated at the time in the disappearance of his wife. Susan Cox Powell went missing from their Utah home in December 2009 and is presumed dead.
Ted Buck, an attorney for the Coxes, argued DSHS workers subsequently involved with the family didn’t follow and weren’t properly trained on policy, such as about domestic violence assessments and visitations.
“If the state had followed its policies, its guidelines, common sense, investigated, had visitations where it was supposed to have them, none of this would have happened,” Buck told the jury during his closing argument.
Assistant attorney general Joseph Diaz said in his closing argument on behalf of the state: “There is no if’s and’s or but’s that it was a very tragic, tragic matter, but the state ... took this very serious. They did their job, they followed their policies.”
Buck argued a social worker recognized Josh Powell was an abduction risk but didn’t inform the court of that. A department investigator failed to interview people such as friends and teachers, he told the jury.
He said the state might have done “busy work,” but that it did not do a “thorough investigation and assessment of the risk that those boys faced.”
They did what needed to do, he said, “for the reunification train to rumble down the track.”
After Susan Cox Powell disappeared, Josh Powell and his sons moved to his father’s Puyallup home.
The boys were taken into protective custody after investigators searched that home for evidence in Susan Cox Powell’s disappearance. Investigators found pornography and other graphic images in the home, and Steven Powell, Josh Powell’s father, was later convicted of voyeurism and child pornography for photos he took of neighbor girls through their bathroom window.
The boys were placed with the Coxes, and Josh Powell rented the house in Graham.
“These grandparents stepped in,” Buck said. “Chuck and Judy took the reins that were left when their daughter disappeared.”
The court denied Josh Powell’s motion for reunification with the boys Feb. 1, 2012 and ordered him to undergo a psychosexual evaluation and a polygraph. On Feb. 5, 2012, Powell locked the DSHS-contracted supervisor out of his home and killed the boys.
“... the state was provided more and more and more reason to be concerned about the safety of these boys,” Buck said. “And as it got closer to Feb. 1 and the court’s hearing, that risk simply exploded. The state took no action.”
He reminded jurors that he suggested in his opening statement of the trial that they award $5 million for each minute the boys suffered. At the start of the trial he told them that’d be $35 million on behalf of Braden if they find he suffered seven minutes, and $50 million on behalf of Charlie if they find he suffered for 10.
“These boys had a chance to grow up,” he told the jury Wednesday. “They had the right to grow up — not to die like that.”
Diaz told the jury: “12 of you will be making a decision that all of us will be living with as this chapter of the Josh Powell legacy comes to an end.”
He said experienced professionals were involved with the case. DSHS oversaw child welfare at the time. Today that’s the duty of the newly created Department of Children, Youth and Families.
“It actually takes facts and proof to remove a child from their parent ... ,” Diaz said. “We have to have facts, and that was difficult in this case.”
The goal is always family reunification, he said, but argued “there was no rush at any time to dismiss the dependency. There was no rush to reunify without having all of the input from the professionals who were involved.”
He said the department was concerned throughout the case and “trying to do what’s best for both those boys, at the same time recognizing that Mr. Powell had rights.”
Superior Court Judge Kathryn Nelson had the power to limit visitation, and she was “fully advised throughout this matter,” he argued.
“The department couldn’t stop visitation,” he said. “The department doesn’t have that power, but the court does.”
Diaz told the jury: “Mr. Powell is the sole cause of the murder of his sons. There was not any negligence by the state of Washington.”
This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 7:41 PM with the headline "Closing arguments delivered in wrongful death trial on behalf of Susan Cox Powell’s sons."
