Posted in Related DeathsPORT ANGELES -- Andrea Freese, 34, was sentenced Thursday morning to 5½ years in prison for second-degree manslaughter in the July 28, 2007, stabbing death of William Boze, 73, of Port Angeles.
She will get credit for time served, which will be about 20 months, depending on whether she is eligible for time she spent in custody on a probation violation for fourth-degree assault, county Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly said.
That means she will serve about 3½ years for killing Boze.
Freese, the mother of a 13-year-old girl she hasn't seen for three years, also will serve 54 months' probation, Clallam County Superior Court Judge George Wood decided in setting a prison term twice the standard range due to her lack of remorse and Boze's vulnerability.
She will serve her time at the Washington Corrections Center for Women at Purdy, north of Gig Harbor.
Her mental health also will be monitored during probation.
Freese has been diagnosed with paranoid personality disorder and said she hears voices, according to trial testimony.
No remorse
Freese showed no remorse for stabbing Boze while she was staying in his west Port Angeles home, Wood said.
"Nothing in her personality disorder prevents her from displaying normal sympathy and empathy for an individual she has hurt," he said.
She remained placid during her sentencing, as she did throughout her trial, which ended on March 21.
Boze, who walked with a cane and had emphysema and heart disease, had offered Freese temporary shelter two years earlier while volunteering at the Dream Center teen facility in Port Angeles.
Before she was sentenced, her lawyer, public defender John Hayden, argued to Wood that Freese acted in self-defense, though her actions were "imperfect," because Boze died.
Freese said she attacked Boze in retaliation for his having punching her in the nose and repeatedly molesting her, a charge that was never proven but which she told her boyfriend was occurring, according to the boyfriend, Marty Marenstein of Seattle.
Freese's mental health "is not an excuse; it's an explanation," Hayden said, noting Freese had tried to get admitted to Western State Hospital a month before she killed Boze but was turned away.
She was given cab fare to another mental health facility, her mother, Charlene Logsdon of Silverdale, said Thursday in an interview.
Kris Flowers, Western State spokeswoman, said Thursday the hospital admits only patients referred by a court, not off the street.
In her argument before Wood, Kelly said Freese had unfairly sullied Boze's reputation and treated him like "a piece of trash."
"It is clear that Andrea Freese, the defendant, is a dangerous individual," Kelly said.
"She will do it again when she is released, and we know she will be released."
Family members were distraught she did not receive a longer sentence but also said Freese needed help.
Veteran, volunteer
In his victim impact statement, William Boze's son, John Boze, said his father was a Vietnam veteran who served three tours, raised four grandchildren on his own after their mother died and was a deacon in church.
Despite a crippling limp, he delivered food in the Meals on Wheels program.
"It was an act of kindness that would lead to the end of his life," said John Boze, who cleaned out his father's house after the killing.
"The larger lesson is that this tragedy provided my family was just how disposable our society views those with mental illness."
Logsdon said it was only during the trial that Hayden learned his client had a daughter.
The girl lives with her father in Bremerton but doesn't know yet that her mother, who was married to her father, is going to prison, Logsdon said.
Marenstein, 36, said that in killing Boze, Freese was protecting herself and can't understand why she would be sentenced to prison.
"I will do everything I can to let her know she is loved, and let her know she has someone waiting for her when she gets out." ..News Source.. by Paul Gottlieb, Peninsula Daily News
No comments:
Post a Comment