It is more than a question of simple fairness: Under state law, the Washington Supreme Court is required to review every death sentence handed out, and must consider whether the sentence "is excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases, considering both the crime and the defendant."

Uttering the word "guilty" 48 times with chilling calm, Gary Leon Ridgway admitted Wednesday he is the Green River killer, confessing to strangling four dozen women over two decades -- "so many women, I have a hard time keeping them straight."

"Choking is what I did, and I was pretty good at it," the 54-year-old former truck-factory employee said in papers submitted as part of his plea bargain.

Ridgway pleaded guilty to more murders than any other serial killer in U.S. history.

He struck a plea bargain that will spare him from execution for those killings and bring life in prison without parole for one of the most baffling and disturbing serial killer cases the nation has ever seen.

Some lawyers say that a death sentence for someone who killed one or two people could well be considered "disproportionate" when compared to what Ridgway got.

"People are concerned that if they don't seek the death penalty in the Ridgway case, it would not be permissible to seek it in any case," said University of Washington criminal law professor John Junker. "How do you find anybody who's done worse than he's done?"

Washington state has executed four people since the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976 cleared the way for capital punishment to resume. Washington is one of 38 states with the death penalty.

Initially, King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng vowed that he would not bargain with Ridgway over the death penalty, precisely for the reason of proportionality.

But Maleng also faced other powerful concerns. There were 49 women, mostly prostitutes and runaways, listed as victims of the serial killer, and without Ridgway's cooperation, their families might never know how they died. Ridgway directed investigators to four sets of remains this summer.

And there was the cost of the case: well over $12 million since Ridgway's arrest, with the expected costs of the trial even higher, at a time when the county has had to make budget cuts.

Junker said the state might be able to continue applying the death penalty because of language in the law that says a death sentence must be proportionate to "similar cases." Because Ridgway was able to help investigators solve so many killings, it could be argued that his case is not similar to any other capital murder case, Junker said.

Mark Roe, Snohomish County's chief criminal deputy prosecutor, said it is too soon to tell how sweeping an effect the Ridgway plea will have.

"We don't stop trying cases because we're pessimistic about what the Supreme Court will do with it some day," Roe said.

- July 15, 1982: Body of Wendy Lee Coffield, 16, Puyallup, found floating in the Green River south of Seattle.

- Aug. 12, 1982: Body of Debra Bonner, 23, found in Green River.

- Aug. 13-15, 1982: Bodies of Cynthia Hinds, 17, Opal Mills, 16, and Marcia Chapman, 31, found in or near Green River.

- Aug. 16, 1982: King County police establish a task force on the killings.

- Aug. 20, 1982: Police announce arrest of a "potential suspect" in slayings but he is later released.

- April 27, 1983: Green River killer becomes target of largest murder investigation in the country. Sheriff Vern Thomas estimates cost for 1983 at $2 million.

- April 30, 1983: Marie M. Malvar, 18, disappears. Boyfriend follows pickup suspected in the disappearance; pickup is identified as Ridgway's. Des Moines police respond and Ridgway denies any contact with Malvar.

- May 3, 1983: Carol Christensen, 21, disappears from Pacific Highway South, south of Seattle.

- May 8, 1983: Body of Christensen found in wooded area in Maple Valley southeast of Seattle.

- Nov. 20, 1983: Police say the same man killed 11 young women found murdered in south King County since summer 1982.

- April 2, 1984: Discovery of five more sets of skeletal remains could bring total victims to more than 30. Official number of victims is 20.

- April 20, 1984: Remains of Amina Agisheff, 36, found near North Bend. She was last seen in Seattle in 1982. Another set of remains also found.

- Dec. 9, 1984: Death toll rises to 42: 28 identified bodies and 14 other women missing.

- April 8, 1987: Police search home and vehicles of Kent-area man. Two witnesses say man was seen with at least two of the victims, now thought to number 46. Police take "bodily samples" from the man but there is insufficient evidence to arrest him. The man was Gary Ridgway.

- May 30, 1988: Body of Debra Estes, 15, found in Federal Way, last seen on Sept. 20, 1982.

- Sept. 20, 1990: Body of Marta Reeves found along state Route 410 near Enumclaw southeast of Seattle. She is not listed among Green River victims at first.

- July 1991: Green River task force reduced to one investigator. No killer has been found despite years of investigative work.

- Aug. 6, 1998: Wrecking crew finds body of Patricia Ann Yellow Robe, 38, Seattle. Death certificate says she died of accidental drug and alcohol overdose, but investigators later tell relatives she was among the Green River killer's victims.

- Nov. 2, 1999: New DNA process used to identify remains found near Green River in 1986 as Tracy Ann Winston, 19, last seen near Northgate in Seattle in 1983.

- February 2000: State crime lab begins using sophisticated new DNA testing method.

- March 2001: Crime lab begins using new process to test Green River killer evidence.

- Nov. 30, 2001: Gary Leon Ridgway, a married man from Auburn who painted trucks for Kenworth Truck Co. in Renton, arrested in connection with four slayings. Ridgway's DNA is linked to three victims. Ridgway is jailed without bail.

- Dec. 5, 2001: King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng files aggravated first-degree murder charges against Ridgway in deaths of Marcia Chapman, Cynthia Hinds, Opal Mills and Carol Christensen.

- Dec. 18, 2001: Ridgway pleads innocent to those four murder counts.

- Sept. 22, 2002: Prosecutors recommend a March 2004 trial date for Ridgway. More than 375,000 documents received by defense from prosecutors in past few months.

- Oct. 5-6, 2002: Crews search wetland in Kent for more remains, nothing found.

- Oct. 18, 2002: Trial date set for March 16, 2004.

- March 27, 2003: Ridgway charged with three more counts of aggravated first-degree murder in deaths of Wendy Lee Coffield, Debra Estes and Debra Bonner. A total of 49 women are listed as victims of the serial killer.

- April 3, 2003: Ridgway pleads innocent to Coffield, Estes and Bonner murder counts.

- May 13, 2003: Trial date delayed to July 14, 2004.

- Mid-June 2003: Ridgway secretly transferred out of King County Jail to an undisclosed location in custody of sheriff's office.

- Aug. 16, 2003: Detectives and search crews find human skeletal remains in a wooded area near state Route 410 east of Enumclaw. Authorities will not confirm reports that Ridgway is cooperating with investigators in hopes of avoiding the death penalty.

- Aug. 18, 2003: Remains found near Enumclaw identified as Pammy Annette Avent, 16, Seattle, who disappeared in October 1983.

- Aug. 21-23, 2003: Detectives find human bones in wooded area in Kent.

- Aug. 30 and Sept. 2, 2003: Detectives find human bones found in wooded area near Snoqualmie, in east King County.

- Sept. 4, 2003: Task force searches site near North Bend, nothing found.

- Sept. 6, 2003: Task force searches three locations east of Enumclaw, nothing found.

- Sept. 26, 2003: Remains found near Snoqualmie have been identified as April Dawn Buttram, 17, last seen in 1983.

- Sept. 28-29, 2003: Skeletal remains, including skull, found in wooded area near Auburn.

- Oct. 1, 2003: Bones found near Auburn identified as Marie M. Malvar, 18, who disappeared April 30, 1983.