Lynda Mercy convicted of 2021 Whidbey murder with firearms enhancement; sentencing scheduled

A Whatcom County jury found 67-year-old Lynda Mercy guilty of second-degree murder with a firearms enhancement for the 2021 killing of 67-year-old Thomas Flood, a South Whidbey resident who regularly parked the van he lived in near the Coupeville ferry dock. Sentencing is set for March 10 in Whatcom County Superior Court.

Prosecutors tried the case in a month-long trial that ended last week, and jurors returned the guilty verdict. Whatcom County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Erik Sigmar described the prosecution as “a complicated case” built largely on circumstantial evidence and said the jury convicted Mercy following presentation of that evidence.

Bridgeable facts presented at trial tied the killing to locations on Whidbey Island and the mainland. Sigmar summarized evidence that Flood was shot twice in the torso near the Coupeville ferry dock and that Mercy then drove Flood’s van to Semiahoo Spit in Blaine and dumped his body before leaving the van in Fairhaven. Flood had been known locally as a man who worked odd jobs and lived in his van near the ferry terminal.

Sigmar told reporters the prosecution relied on cell phone data and surveillance video from various businesses as part of the circumstantial case. Court documents and trial testimony, as summarized in court coverage, show Mercy may have been trying to find a way home from the Coupeville ferry terminal; Mercy, who didn’t have a car, briefly got inside a different vehicle at the dock before approaching Flood’s van. A witness at a nearby restaurant reported seeing Flood arguing with Mercy the day before his body was discovered.

On legal exposure, Sigmar provided the sentencing math prosecutors expect the court to consider. “Mercy, who doesn’t have a felony criminal history, faces a standard sentencing range of 123-220 months in prison, plus an additional mandatory five years because of the firearm enhancement,” Sigmar said. He added, “The midpoint of the sentence range, he noted, is just over 19 years.” Sigmar also emphasized that motive was not an element the prosecution had to prove: “Sigmar said he didn’t have to prove motive as an element of the charge.”

Family members and friends of Thomas Flood are expected to provide victim impact statements at the March 10 hearing in Whatcom County Superior Court. The judge will decide Mercy’s term within the statutory parameters described by Sigmar, which include the 123-220 month range and the mandatory five-year firearm enhancement.