News Releases
Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - October 11, 2004
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136

Gov. Gary Locke’s Statement on Transfer Request of Convicted Murderer John Medlock

Gov. Gary Locke today issued the following statement on the request of convicted murderer John Medlock to be transferred from the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla to a prison in his native British Columbia:

“It has been my policy that people who commit heinous crimes in Washington state serve their sentences under Washington state law and control.

“John Medlock must serve his full sentence for the vicious murder of 13-year-old Rebecca Hedman. There is absolutely no way that I could support anything less.

“If Mr. Medlock were to be transferred to Canada, he could be out in a year. This would be more than 12 years sooner than his earliest possible release if he remains in a Washington state prison. I simply cannot permit this.

“It is my recommendation to the U.S. Department of Justice that John Medlock’s request to be transferred to Canada be denied. The Hedman family deserves justice for the senseless murder of their daughter. We owe it to the memory of Rebecca Hedman.”

Medlock, a Canadian citizen, is currently serving a 27-year sentence for murdering 13-year-old runaway Rebecca Hedman in 1993. Hedman was from Tacoma and had escaped from a drug treatment facility in Spokane. Her body was found in the Spokane River. Rebecca’s murder inspired the state’s Becca Bill, which gives police and parents more authority over runaway children.


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