Everett man to serve nearly 13 years in prison for fatal shooting

Published 11:44 pm Wednesday, July 1, 2009

EVERETT — James Prizmich never should have had a gun.

Cory Hamilton would not have died on driveway in south Everett. Prizmich would not be spending more than a decade locked up in prison.

Prizmich, a convicted felon, knew he wasn’t allowed to carry a firearm, a Snohomish County judge said Wednesday. In fact, he was four days away from trial for unlawful gun possession and eluding police in a separate incident when he shot and killed Hamilton on July 28, 2008.

Both sides may dispute the events leading up to the shooting, but no one can dispute that Prizmich shouldn’t have been in possession of the gun he fired at Hamilton, Superior Court Judge Linda Krese said.

“Mr. Prizmich cared so little about that law … I think it’s very hard to give him” a lenient sentence, Krese said.

Krese sentenced Prizmich to nearly 13 years in prison.

Prosecutors initially charged Prizmich with second-degree murder. He pleaded guilty last month to first-degree manslaughter, illegal possession of a firearm and attempting to elude police. Before his arrest for the killing, one of the cases against Prizmich involved his firing a SKS assault rifle with a multi-round banana clip in a city park in the Lowell neighborhood.

Prizmich, 46, admitted he shot Hamilton, 38, but denied that he meant to kill.

“I wasn’t intending to hurt anyone that day,” Prizmich said Wednesday. “I’m sorry it happened. I wish I could take it back.”

His wife and sisters told the judge that Prizmich is a good, hard-working man who was acting in self-defense the night he shot Hamilton.

“My husband would never put anyone’s life in danger if he did not fear for his own life,” Desiree Prizmich said.

She told the judge Hamilton was high on drugs and “looking for trouble.”

Prizmich’s attorney, Karen Halverson, said if the case had gone to trial she would have argued that her client believed Hamilton was armed and shot him in self-defense.

Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Halley Hupp argued that no one saw Hamilton with a gun. He was being chased by another man and two dogs, and was “running for his life” when he was killed, Hupp said.

Krese said while Prizmich may have admirable qualities, he ignored the law, made bad decisions and associated with people involved in criminal activity.

Hamilton “would not be dead if Mr. Prizmich didn’t have a firearm,” she said. “To say Mr. Hamilton is an unworthy person is not a defense.”

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com.