No-prison deal in the works for West Seattle man’s killer

KING 5 reported tonight (see the clip here) that a hearing on Monday could close the case of the June 2005 W. Marginal Way shooting death of Mike Robb, a West Seattle resident who coached tennis at Newport High School – with his killer declared not guilty by reason of insanity. (More background on the case in this September 2006 Times article; KING reported tonight that the lawsuit discussed in that story, against the killer’s parents, has been settled.)

9 Replies to "No-prison deal in the works for West Seattle man's killer"

  • Pelicans May 3, 2008 (11:27 am)

    Sampson Berhe should have been charged with murder as well as a hate crime. He knew what he was doing.

  • Pam May 3, 2008 (12:07 pm)

    No “normal” person would kill someone else. He obviously knows how to work the “system” to his advantage. It is absolutely sickening that he is going to get away with this murder!! Why does the so called system always seem to work for the criminal and not for the victim?

  • CO Transplant May 3, 2008 (4:00 pm)

    Where are the usual hate crime protestors?
    Shouldn’t they be marching on the courthouse?
    Riots have erupted for less. What gives?

  • Frank May 3, 2008 (7:46 pm)

    Don’t you guys know…
    According to the Seattle School District, ONLY whites can be racists.

  • whatever May 3, 2008 (10:57 pm)

    i can tell that co transplant and you are both not of an enthnic heritage considering your boldness of writing such comments.

  • Danno May 4, 2008 (11:32 pm)

    Whatever-
    WHATEVER! Everyone is of an ethnic heritage. Yu are sounding pretty racist yourself.

    WHATEVER!

  • appalled May 6, 2008 (11:06 am)

    Amazing – a 17yr old really knows how to work the system. give me a break. I am really sorry this happened, and feel for the Robb family. But two wrongs don’t make a right. None of you can pretend to know what was in the mind of a mentally ill teenager and what his life had entailed up to that point. You can have opinions based on your own life experiences, but those are yours and not the truth of what that young man has been through.

    “No “normal” person would kill someone else…” really Pam… What is your definition of normal? I would bet it’s very different than mine, everyone has a different idea of what that is. I would venture to say that if we got into everyone’s life there would be no such thing as normal.

    This young man did a very bad thing. It’s very sad that the Robb’s lost a son, father, and husband. However, I am thankful that this young man is getting some help and perhaps changing his life. Maybe it will shed light on the racial disparity in this country and people will start to wake up and realize that we haven’t moved far from our past, it’s just hidden a few layers down.

  • Lee Robb May 7, 2008 (3:24 pm)

    “This young man did a very bad thing?” As a family member I find the wording of this incredibly hurtful and blatently understated. Tell that to my parents, tell that to Mike’s daughter. I guess the murderer should get a slap on the wrist or a time-out, I just hope when he gets out of the mental hospital and believe me he will, he doesn’t do this to one of your family members or someone you know. You might feel just slightly differently about the whole thing if he did…..and forget about the racial implications – Mike didn’t think about them when he stopped to help. Shouldn’t the rehabilitation have started when he went to Harboview all those other times??? Oh right – he wasn’t sick.

  • Cam May 27, 2008 (10:46 am)

    An act of this kind doesn’t have any form of justification. I don’t care weather the person was normal or legally insane. Such precarious people by any means, should become obstructed from society. I understand that a low percentage of the mentally ill aren’t considered dangerous to anybody other than themselves, and especially for that reason relatives should certainly understand the importance of such situations. When all of this occurred, Samson was 17 years old. What I wonder is why his parents allowed for him to be out on the streets under such conditions. Yes, Samson went to Harborview several times and apparently he was fine, but anybody that participates in such an act is definitely not in their right senses and therefore incompetent for society. I don’t care weather the doctor realized this or not, my focus is towards the family because Samson was still underage and they were responsible for him. I understand they were not responsible for his actions, but they sure could have prevented what has now been done. My condolences to the Robb family and my best to their little princess.

Sorry, comment time is over.