EVERETT — Three teens won’t have to register as sex offenders after reaching an agreement with Snohomish County prosecutors who alleged that they sexually assaulted a girl in a tree house at a juvenile drinking party last year.
The defendants, all 18 now, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault with the intent to commit indecent liberties, a felony. They were sentenced last month to 20 days in juvenile detention and a year on community supervision.
They faced up to nine months in a state juvenile detention center. Snohomish County Superior Court Judge David Kurtz followed the lawyers’ recommendation to impose less time. He ordered the defendants not to contact the girl for a decade except for requiring them to write an apology letter to her and her parents.
The victim and her family agreed that this was an appropriate resolution, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Randy Yates said. They weren’t concerned that the teens won’t be required to register as sex offenders, he added.
The sentence allowed them to stay in the community and get counseling if recommended by probation, Yates said.
The Herald is not naming the teens because they were convicted as juveniles. One was 16 and two were 17 at the time of the offense.
Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Laura Twitchell initially charged the teens with indecent liberties, alleging that they had sexual contact with the girl, then 16. The charging documents also alleged that the teens engaged in sexual intercourse and committed the more serious crime of second-degree rape.
The girl was passed out and incapable of providing consent. Tests showed she had a blood-alcohol level of 0.267 — more than three times the legal limit to drive a car, according to court papers.
The witnesses reported seeing the boys, who also had been drinking, with the unclothed girl. Other witnesses said the boys bragged about having sexual intercourse with her. Police were told that the girl was incoherent, unable to dress herself or stand up.
She was carried down from the tree and driven to a hospital.
Deputies heard from a witness who said one of the boys uploaded a video to Snapchat showing the girl and the suspects. The girl appeared passed out. Snapchat allows users to share photos, videos and other files with people of their choice, but only briefly before the information is automatically deleted. Another witness said she found a picture of the unclothed girl on one of the suspect’s phones. She told deputies she deleted it.
The teens admitted to detectives that there was some degree of contact with the girl, including kissing and touching. They told detectives that the girl was naked and they had some of their clothes off, court papers said.
One teen said he didn’t think that the girl knew what she was doing because she had consumed a bottle of vodka.
In her memo to the court, defense attorney Cassandra Lopez de Arriaga said genetic testing proved that the girl wasn’t raped.
Yates said there was evidence to show that there was sexual contact.
“Just because they couldn’t locate DNA, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. It doesn’t mean there isn’t other sufficient evidence,” the deputy prosecutor said.
A fourth teen accused of sexually assaulting a different girl, 15, at the same party remains charged with indecent liberties. His trial is scheduled to begin next month.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
