Secret Marriage Behind Bars : County-Paid Law Clerk Weds Killer

Willie Ray Wisely, convicted murderer and jail house lawyer, and his county-paid lawyer clerk confirmed Thursday that they were secretly married last Christmas Eve during one of her frequent jail visits.

The law clerk, Gail Marie Harrington, 25, of Newport Beach, is a third-year student at Western State University College of Law in Fullerton.

She also worked as law clerk for attorney Richard Herman, who had been retained by the ACLU to handle prisoner-rights cases.

“To be honest with you, if we had known she was married to Wisely, we certainly would have looked into the question of whether it would be appropriate for her to be a clerk on the case. We were as surprised as anyone else,” said Paul Hoffman, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

“We certainly didn’t know about it,” he said.

It was not the first time that Harrington’s relationship with Wisely became controversial.

Earlier, Harrington was charged with trying to smuggle drugs to Wisely during a jail visit, a charge she has denied.

Wisely, 34, was found guilty by a jury in 1981 of murdering his stepfather. In jail, he was granted the right to a law clerk. In February, 1986, he interviewed three candidates, including Harrington, whom he hired.

“We’ve spent tens of thousands of hours talking, probably more time talking than couples who have been married 20 years and wake up next to each other,” Harrington said. “I fell madly in love with him. He made his feelings for me clear.”

Wisely added in a Thursday interview: “It’s not unusual for people in jail to get married.”

He said the couple did not announce their marriage because “it’s just nobody’s business.”

“This is private between her and I,” he said. “There was a feeling it would be held against her. Gail didn’t want to broadcast it, and I don’t blame her.”

Harrington agreed.

“I’m in court every day,” she said. “He’s very well known here, very controversial. I wanted to be able to walk into courtroom or office or law school and be judged as Gail Harrington, lawyer-to-be, not a jail house lawyer’s wife.”

She said the wedding took place in the attorney’s room at the jail. She said she had a court order allowing people to accompany her into jail, so she brought in a Baptist minister from Inglewood who performed the ceremony.

She said she has taken into account the chance that Wisely will never be free. Wisely’s jury recommended a life sentence without possibility of parole, but Wisely has petitioned for a new penalty hearing.

“I’m an optimist at heart, but it would be unrealistic not to consider that,” Harrington said. “I’d rather not bring the kids--we both want children very badly--to see father in prison.”