By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
One year and one day ago, a gruesome discovery in Roxhill Park – the body of a man who had been viciously beaten. The disturbing details emerged in subsequent days and weeks- the victim, 40-year-old Bernard Martin, had had a shopping cart smashed into him, and had been jumped on, from a low wall nearby.
21-year-old Chatri Thip (right) was arrested and charged within days. His record included involvement in another murder in South King County. Earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Today, members of his family came from as far away as Montana to speak to the judge who would decide the price Thip would pay.
After an emotion-wracked hearing lasting almost an hour, King County Superior Court Judge Susan Craighead has just announced her decision: 11 years, the low end of the sentencing range, as recommended by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, while acknowledging she was worried that because Thip is so young, he will be as much of a threat when he gets out as he was when he killed Martin in a self-described alcohol-fueled rage.
Prosecutor Scott O’Toole explained at the start of the hearing that his office believed Thip was truly remorseful, and that is why they made the recommendation.
The victim’s family left the courtroom hissing insults at Thip, who had read a letter of apology, after their pleas for a tougher sentence.
The high end of the sentencing range would have been 234 months – 8 more years. Before the victim’s relatives spoke, O’Toole elaborated on the request for the low range, saying, “I was present at the discovery of the crime itself, very familiar with what the scene looked like and what happened to the victim. A very unpleasant scene … it has stuck with me over time.” Yet, he said, he stands by the decision to have charged this as second-degree murder, not first. And: “It’s my office’s policy to encourage defendants to accept responsibility, if done in a meaningful way. … Part of accepting responsibility is a genuine sense of remorse.” He said he saw that while Thip was interviewed – including a moment caught on tape, when he said no one else was in the room, and the camera was not visible, in which Thip “made a sincere appeal to his God asking for forgiveness … it seemed very heartfelt.”
(Later, in reference to that, a family member of the victim scoffed, “Everyone knows there are cameras in those rooms. And that the walls have ears.”)
O’Toole acknowledged, before insisting he believed the recommendation is “just,” that “this is not easy for (Martin’s) family. I sat with them and explained our rationale. I thought there was understanding … (but) they have communicated a certain sense of frustration.”
What family members subsequently expressed went beyond frustration, as he brought them up to the bench to address the judge, after explaining that had come from as far away as Montana.
His aunt Connie spoke first, saying that the murder “broke my heart very badly… (Bernard) was well-loved, he was a good person. I miss him so much.” She pointed out that Thip had been involved in a prior murder case, and begged the judge, “Please don’t let him get out with just (11 years).”
Other family members in the gallery sobbed, loudly, as she broke down.
Next to speak, the victim’s mother Dorothy:
“I’m very bitter that my son was taken from me. I just can’t figure why they would hurt him. He was mentally ill. Why would they do that to my baby? How long did he lay there, by himself .. he must have lay there and suffered like a dog or something … He never hurt nobody. It’s evil. May God please step in and show justice for my son.”
Then Mariah, the victim’s brother. “When I found out what happened to him … it’s like losing a part of yourself, to be told you may not be able to view his body because his face is so unrecognizable. And to hear (Thip) describe what he did, because he was drunk? No, I’m a recovering alcoholic … Using a cart? Jumping off a wall? How drunk can you be? He did it intentionally. He planned it. … They re-created my brother’s face for the funeral. I buried a stranger. (Thip) destroyed a part of my family, took away my children’s uncle. He had a heart of gold.”
The victim’s niece Cindy then came forward. She didn’t want to speak, but held up a dreamcatcher, which her mother described as “the last thing he sent to his niece … he wanted her to have good dreams. He made it from scratch out of nothing when he was living on the street.”
Judge Craighead offered, “He’s going to live on in her heart.”
Next, the victim’s cousin Michael, who said he was the first to hear from detectives about the murder of his brother, and that he “was there when they put him in a bag and took him away.” He declared: “I personally believe a minimum sentence says you could come to Washington and commit a homicide and get away with it. … My cousin was beaten beyond recognition. … The man had no face (left) … Please do the right thing. If you don’t, people are going to get the message that you can kill someone in this state and walk out of here.”
Michael also said he believed there was no way that Thip could have done it alone. O’Toole later said that the investigation continues, and there is a chance others could eventually be arrested and charged, and that Thip was expected to cooperate in any such prosecution.
Another cousin, Richard, called the not-yet-pronounced sentence “utterly ridiculous. This man deserves the maximum you can give him and more. Many nights I wished I could be in the same cell as this man …”
From the gallery, several people said, “Me too.”
Richard continued, “… For him to get another chance after being involved in another murder … Is he going to get a fourth chance? A fifth chance? .. This just disgusts me.”
And then came Randall, who said he had “married into the family … we are from different tribes, but I have become part of my wife’s family.” He offered praise for the police who investigated the murder and arrested Thip: “This could have never come to closure without them.” And he simply asked the judge to impose a higher sentence, “if you have discretion in this matter.”
The defense lawyer (whose name we did not get) said that several people had come to court to support Thip, though none spoke – his mother and sister, and a counselor. Judge Craighead told the lawyer, “Your client is very young. I worry about the age he will be if released (after 11 years), the threat he will pose – I want to hear from you about that.”
The lawyer talked about the stress Thip was “facing” at the time of the killing, with a pregnant girlfriend whose brothers were upset about it. She said he has finally come to recognize where he is at and what he has done, and has been examining “what kind of man does he think he should be?” After years of influence by gangs, she said, “he feels he is more free in jail than he has ever been in his life.” And she acknowledged that the lawyers were asking the judge to “take a chance” on Thip.
Then, Thip read his letter of apology. (video added)
He spoke of hoping to go to college, and hoping to pay tribute in some way to his victim.
In the end, Judge Craighead’s remarks boiled down to the fact she wanted to honor the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office recommendation, though the high end of the sentencing range would take him to an age where he would be less likely to re-offend. She said she had considered a mid-range sentence, but that wouldn’t do enough to mitigate not honoring the prosecution’s recommendation. She looked at Thip and said, “I am willing to take a chance on you,” and pronounced the sentence of 134 months in prison, followed by 36 months of “community custody,” and a mandatory alcohol evaluation.
Family members of Bernard Martin began to cry again.
After a few minutes of the procedural matters that conclude many court hearings – restitution orders (his “total legal obligation including restitution” was described as $5,900 so far) and so forth – Bernard Martin’s family began to leave.
“I hope you rot in hell when you die,” one said, toward Thip. Others were more profane. Another said, “He wasn’t sorry he murdered my nephew.”
Thip was taken away, headed for that 11-year sentence.
(Postscript – we are looking up records on that previous conviction of “criminal assistance/murder.” It was filed in November 2008, according to the online docket, which says Thip pleaded guilty on September 28, 2009 – less than a year before he killed Bernard Martin.)
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