Mark Prothero – a U.S. National Team swimmer in the 1970s who became best known as the defense attorney for the Green River serial killer – has died, the Seattle Times reports.
Prothero died after a bout with lung cancer. He was 57 years old.
A former collegiate swimmer at the University of Washington, Prothero was ranked as high as 13th in the world in his 400 IM, hitting that slot back in 1976 while representing the U.S. in international competition.
He remained very much in touch with the swimming community even as his professional focus shifted to law. Prothero served as Kentwood High’s swim coach from 1997 to 2007 and was named State Coach of the Year for the 2003 season. He also announced multiple national-level swim meets at Federal Way, was a member of the Pacific Northwest Swimming Board of Review and helped save the Kent Meridian Pool from being closed while serving with the Kent Parks Foundation.
Prothero became well-known outside the swimming community by serving as the defense attorney for Gary L. Ridgeway, a serial killer known as the Green River killer. Prothero managed to help Ridgeway avoid the death penalty, getting his client a life sentence in exchange for confessing to 49 counts of murder. He also wrote a book about the experience, called “Defending Gary: Unraveling the Mind of the Green River Killer.”
Prothero was a well-respected trial lawyer, being named a “SuperLawyer” (essentially ranked in the top 25 criminal defense lawyers in the state) every year from 2006 to 2013. He and partner Greg Girard were also named Trial Lawyers of the Year by Presumed Innocent magazine in 2006.
He is survived by his wife Kelly and two kids, both of whom have close ties to the swimming community. His son Sean is the swimming coach at Kennedy High School, while his daughter Marley swam and coached at UNLV and now coaches at the Kent Swim & Tennis Club.
You can read Prothero’s obituary from his local Kent Paper, the Kent Reporter, here.
Thank you for this article. He was the best man I know and will have an everlasting impact on the swimming world and far beyond that. I am proud that most everything I have learned about being a great coach, came from him.
Mark was a good man in so many ways. I am so sorry to hear this. He will be missed
We all miss Mark. Lots of love to the whole family. They are great people and Mark will be greatly missed.