Low-Profile Lawyer In High-Test Case Prosecutor Caught In Glare Of Ruby Ridge Case

It’s almost as if Boundary County Prosecutor Denise Woodbury didn’t expect the shock wave.

The small-town lawyer who stunned the country this week by filing manslaughter charges against a federal agent has abruptly left town. She’s fended off media, critics and even supporters by spending this weekend in Seattle.

Woodbury is a mystery to most of the county’s 8,000 residents. Those who know her don’t seem to know her well.

“She’s sincere, quiet, not flamboyant at all,” said Earl Berwick. He owns the Naples General Store near where Woodbury and her husband, Lon, have an out-of-the-way creekside home and few neighbors. “She is a likeable person, honest, very private, and conservative in all parts of her life. I’m not sure why she ran for the job (of prosecutor).”

Woodbury last Thursday filed an involuntary manslaughter charge against FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi for killing white separatist Randy Weaver’s wife, Vicki, during the standoff. The prosecutor also charged Weaver’s friend, Kevin Harris, with murder for shooting deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan. Harris was acquitted of the murder during a federal trial in Idaho in 1993.

It seems no one in Bonners Ferry had the diminutive Woodbury pegged as the person to take on the Goliath of federal government. Horiuchi will be defended by government-paid private lawyers, backed by reams of evidence gathered after the standoff for the federal trial.

Before she left town, every major news organization, including CNN, wanted an interview with Woodbury. But the bespectacled, stoic looking 47-year-old with gray-streaked, brunette hair, turned them all down.

“I don’t have a political agenda,” Woodbury said late Friday. “As prosecuting attorney I take the cases that are there.”

Boundary County Commissioner Murleen Skeen described the new prosecutor as soft-spoken, with a great mind for research and a personality that does not exude self-confidence.

“She’s not someone who jumps into something for the glory or attention,” said Skeen, who’s also a friend of Woodbury’s. “She is a smart lady, no doubt about it, she just doesn’t flaunt it.”

Woodbury’s style in court is reserved - unlike former Prosecutor Randall Day, who had a bit of a Perry Mason persona, Skeen said.

Still, Woodbury’s soft-spokeness and desire for privacy have made her just another face in the crowd. Until now.

Woodbury graduated from Davenport (Wash.) High School and was a 1980 graduate of Gonzaga University’s School of Law. Classmates and professors who remember her say she didn’t stand out at school.

The former Denise Joy Mooers received no awards, not even a “cum laude” after her name in the graduation program. Since she attended law school, not once did she submit any personal information to the alumni directory.

“She was very studious,” recalled William Hyslop, a Spokane lawyer who attended law school with Woodbury. “She was a very earnest person, not particularly boisterous. … She would look very seriously at any issue before filing charges.”

Even as a child, Woodbury would take everything seriously, said her aunt, Grace Melander of Mesa, Ariz.

“She was busy, smart and ambitious,” said Melander, who last saw her niece two years ago when Woodbury visited her in Arizona. “She brought flowers,” Melander recalled.

Woodbury’s father, Harley Mooers, died before she was 10-years-old. Her mother, Helen Mooers, worked as a teacher at Davenport High School while raising three daughters and a son. The family moved from Odessa, Wash., to Davenport in 1961. Helen Mooers died two years ago.

In 1985, Woodbury was licensed to practice in Idaho and signed on as the deputy prosecutor for Boundary County. She held that post for 8-1/2 years and was elected prosecutor seven months ago.

Woodbury’s inexperience was pointed out by many people after the charges were filed. “It’s not just seven months, it’s (many) years and seven months,” she responded. “I do feel ready for this. I’ve tried many felony cases.”

Woodbury, one of only two attorneys living in Bonners Ferry, is often referred to as an “intellectual” by those who know her. She was chairman of the county Republican Party, a duty now taken over by her husband.

Ron Smith, one of Woodbury’s neighbors and a former sheriff and commissioner, said Woodbury is a very private person other than her involvement with the Republican Party. She is also well-liked and respected in the community, he said.

“She was always kind of laid back, not really outgoing. She does things at a slow, calculated pace,” Smith said. “I think she is doing a good job but that doesn’t necessarily mean I agree with the charges she filed.”

Being criticized for decisions goes with the job in a small county. “It’s a tough job being an attorney here. Half the people are going to hate you because they are on the other side,” Berwick said. “But Denise is a very credible person and when she believes something she is not easily swayed.”

Woodbury moved to Boundary County around 1983 with four children. Her husband, Lon, took a job there with Rocky Mountain Academy, a pricey, private school for troubled teens. He has since started his own educational consulting business.

The county considers the prosecutor position part-time. Woodbury earns $37,262 annually and is free to have a private practice on the side when she finds time.

She has one deputy prosecutor, Todd Reed, to help her with the Ruby Ridge case. But the county recently agreed to hire another part-time deputy prosecutor to help handle the caseload.

Woodbury and Reed are both inexperienced with major cases. Woodbury had her first murder trial three months ago. She won the case and is now seeking the death penalty for a 19-year-old who shot another teenage boy.

Reed, 30, has been a lawyer for only four years. He graduated from the University of Idaho Law School in 1993. He practiced in Lewiston for less than a year before moving to Sandpoint to take a job as the juvenile deputy prosecutor.

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The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Kevin Keating Staff writer Staff writer Virginia de Leon contributed to this report.