Mother of condemned Idaho inmate says son is innocent

Richard Leavitt, the man convicted of murdering and mutilating a Blackfoot woman in 1984, is set to be executed for a crime he and his mother say he did not commit.

For decades now, Local News 8 has talked to prosecutors, detectives and others involved in this case, and they paint a gruesome picture of Leavitt and the murder of Danette Elg.

But for the first time in 28 years, Leavitt’s mother broke her silence in an interview with Local New 8’s Kylie Bearse.

In the final days leading up to her son’s execution, she said there is little comfort, but said a handwritten letter, neatly penned from a fellow inmate, shows the kindness of a man she’s known her whole life.

“‘(Richard) has been instrumental in helping turn my life around,'” Marge Leavitt read from the letter.

That kindness, she says, is how Rick was connected with the case in the first place.

“He was helping a friend move,” Leavitt said.

She says the police sought him out.

“He was one of the kids in town, a little wild, spotlights on his truck and stuff, and the cops always get a handful they’re after, and Rick was one of that handful,” she said. “They’d always have to turn him loose because he never did anything. And they kept saying, ‘Leavitt, one day we’ll get you.’ And this time they got him.”

Twenty-eight years ago, Richard Leavitt lost his freedom. And in a way, his family lost theirs as well.

“We lost everything,” she said. “It was hard. The family got harassed, stuff thrown at the house, spotlight in the windows. But we would do it over again, because we had that much faith he didn’t do it. We still have that faith.”

She says that faith was rewarded by a recent polygraph test that her son passed.

“In my heart I know he’s innocent. I know he’s been innocent all through this,” she said. “My son couldn’t have done this. Nobody wants to hear the good, they only want the bad. If there’s any doubt, and this lie detector is doubt, you don’t execute somebody until you know for sure.”

As the execution day closes in, she says Rick is still only thinking about others.

“He’s very worried about the family,” she said. “But he says he’s made his peace with God. Him and God know, that’s what counts.”

As Bearse was talking with Marge Leavitt, her son happened to call from the state penitentiary and Bearse had a chance to ask Richard Leavitt a few questions.

He told her he did not murder Elg, saying the police were out to “get” him and that it “wasn’t solving a murder, but building a case.”

She says he’s also pointing to the polygraph, which he says he passed with flying colors.

As far as how he feels about the execution, he says he’s ready and he knows where he’s going.

Kylie has also been speaking with the prosecutor and detectives and their story is notably different from Richard Leavitt’s. She will have that story live from Boise on Monday night, when Local News 8’s live coverage begins from the prison and continues into Tuesday, when Leavitt is set to be executed at 10 a.m.