11-year sentence for brutal attack

Published 10:30 pm Friday, September 17, 2010

EVERETT — Michael Miles and Nathan Sherlock were friends.

“They were tight,” Nathan Sherlock’s father, Maurice, said.

The friendship ended in a brutal tragedy early in the morning of April 30, 2008.

That’s when Nathan Sherlock, 26, brutally attacked Miles, 53, leaving him bloody and beaten in a Snohomish street following an argument, according to court papers. Miles died four months later after spending his final weeks clinging to life.

A judge Thursday sentenced Sherlock to 11 years in prison for causing Miles’ death.

“I feel very sad about the whole ordeal, both sides of it,” said Miles’ niece, Jane Miles, 50 of Everett.

Nathan Sherlock apologized in court Thursday.

“I strongly regret what I did,” he said. “If I could take it back, I would.”

Sherlock in July pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He said he’ll have to live with his actions for the rest of his life.

Maurice Sherlock, the accused man’s father, recalled fixing cars with his son’s victim.

“He was a great and gifted mechanic,” Maurice Sherlock said.

He said the violence that robbed his friend of a long life and put his son behind bars was tragic.

“It’s amazing how a split-second indiscretion can have a life-altering effect,” he said.

Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Gerald Knight told Miles’ relatives that no matter what sentence he imposed, it wouldn’t bring their loved one back.

“Whatever I do today, it’s doesn’t accomplish that,” Knight said.

Jane Miles said she was comfortable with the sentence. She has a son about Nathan Sherlock’s age, and understood the grave consequences Sherlock now faced in more than a decade locked behind bars.

“I hope Mr. Sherlock is rehabilitated and comes out a better person,” she said.

Jane Miles’ daughter, Chelsea Sayles, a former criminal prosecutor, said she believed Sherlock deserved a longer sentence.

When Sherlock gets out, he’ll still be a young man, in his 30s, she said. Miles will never see his relatives marry or meet a new generation as children are born.

“I don’t think 10 years is justice for what this man did,” Sayles said.

Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com