Local News

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, March 14, 2008 Marysville tavern shooting results in 21-year term By Jim Haley, Herald Writer EVERETT -- A Marysville man who picked a fight in a tavern and then shot his opponent to death was sentenced to nearly 21 years in prison Thursday. Kevin Jory Braa, 47, told a jury in February that he acted in self-defense when he killed Simeon Whitney, 35, of Wapato. The jurors didn't believe him. The jury found that Braa acted recklessly. The shooting was not justifiable and he was guilty of first-degree manslaughter, the jury found. He was being tried on a charge of second-degree murder. Braa on Thursday told the judge he was sorry that Whitney had to die. "I do take issue with your statement that it was too bad Simeon had to die," Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Ellen Fair said. "He didn't have to die." She gave him nearly a year more in prison than the 20 years deputy prosecutor John Stansell recommended. Marybeth Dingledy asked for her client to be sentenced at the low end of the sentencing range, about 17 years. One reason the sentencing range was high for Braa is that he also pleaded guilty to five counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Felons are not supposed to have guns unless a judge has restored that civil right. Braa was convicted in 1994 of drug possession. Fair pointed out that Whitney would still be alive if Braa had not taken a loaded 9 mm pistol to Kuhnle's Tavern in downtown Marysville on Nov. 11, 2006. The fight started after Braa made racist remarks about American Indians. Whitney, an American Indian, took exception. Braa was told to leave the bar and Whitney followed him outside to the parking lot, where the shooting happened. Mortally wounded, Whitney stumbled back into the bar, collapsed and died. Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or jhaley@heraldnet.com.

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