EVERETT — Her two boys can no longer look up into the stands to see their proud mom, wearing a football jersey, cheering them on.
She was their biggest fan and she is gone.
The boys have quit football. They are without their mother’s cheering, guidance and kindness.
The man responsible for stealing Rachael Kamin from her husband and teenage sons was sentenced Friday to 39 years in prison.
He apologized but Joseph Strange, 35, said he knows there is nothing he can say to make up for what he did, what he stole.
“She had so much more to give to this world and all I’ve done is take,” Strange said.
The longtime car thief told Superior Court Judge Linda Krese that he didn’t deserve leniency after being convicted of murder.
“I failed as a human being. I failed the community,” Strange said. “I wish I would have pulled over that night.”
Kamin, a nurse, was leaving her shift at Providence Regional Medical Center Pacific Avenue Campus in Everett on May 12, 2013, when she crossed paths with Strange.
High on methamphetamine and driving a stolen pickup truck, the multi-time felon was hell-bent on outrunning Bothell police officers. They’d been chasing him for miles at speeds reaching more than 90 mph.
The pursuit started in Bothell, was quickly abandoned and then picked up again in Lynnwood where Strange rammed a parking car at a gas station. Strange took to the freeway but then headed into downtown Everett via Evergreen Way.
Strange ran a red light and plowed into Kamin’s car as she was driving through the intersection at Rucker and Pacific avenues. The impact sent her car sliding on its side for 160 feet. Kamin, 40, was unconscious and bleeding from the head when police found her.
She was rushed to a Seattle hospital. For two days her family hoped for a miracle, her mother in-law wrote the judge. Kamin had severe brain trauma. She was removed from life support and died from her injuries.
In a unique move Snohomish County prosecutors charged Strange with first-degree murder, alleging that he caused Kamin’s death “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life.”
The defense argued the Strange was negligent, but not guilty of murder. Public defender Donald Wackerman said at trial that the cops didn’t act like it was dangerous. They continued to chase after a truck with stolen license plates. They didn’t communicate any extreme dangers as they called out their speeds and traffic conditions to a sergeant monitoring the pursuit.
Jurors were not told that the lead officer Mark Atterbury was suspended for a day for his involvement in the pursuit.
After a lengthy trial 11 jurors were ready to convict Strange of first-degree murder. One person was not convinced. The jury instead convicted Strange of second-degree murder and possession of a stolen vehicle.
Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Tobin Darrow on Friday asked the judge to send Strange to prison for 43 years. He urged Superior Court Judge Linda Krese to find that Strange’s actions in 2013 and his prior 15 felony convictions had earned him the maximum sentence allowed under the law.
“The defendant’s criminal history is extensive and demonstrates that he is incorrigible,” Darrow wrote in court papers.
Strange knew if he was caught he was in serious trouble because of his rap sheet. He was on corrections department supervision after being released from prison seven months before.
“What really bothers me is it was business as usual for him,” Darrow said.
Kamin’s boy also urged the judge to consider Strange’s past.
“I do not believe a person should be severely punished for a single dumb accidental mistake,” Kamin’s son wrote to Krese. Strange “was a person who made many, conscious, evil decisions.”
On Friday, Wackerman again took the opportunity to question why the state felt justified in charging Strange with first-degree murder. He said there had been only two other first-degree murder prosecutions in the state under similar circumstances. Most often people are charged with vehicular homicide. He also took another jab at the Bothell police officers involved in the chase. His client was being held to a different standard.
Krese said there may be questions about the officers’ decision to continue a lengthy pursuit at such high speeds.
“I’m not here to determine what officers knew about the risk,” she said.
Krese said Strange is responsible for what happened to Rachael Kamin. It is unbelievable that the defendant didn’t know the risks of trying to outrun the police at such speeds.
“You can’t do anything now to change what happened but there was a lot you could have done that night to change what happened,” Krese said.
The judge concluded that Strange’s life of crime, including his prolific thievery and at least one other conviction for trying to outrun police, deserved an exceptional sentence. She agreed that his 6-year sentence for being in possession of stolen vehicle shouldn’t start until after he had served the maximum 33 years for the murder conviction.
“I think you have earned this sentence by your behavior,” Krese said.
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.
