SEATTLE — On the eve of Colton Harris-Moore’s sentencing date in federal court, his lawyers Thursday disclosed more of his jailhouse emails in an attempt to underscore his regrets for the two-year crime spree.
John Henry Browne, Harris-Moore’s defense attorney, filed the 16-page motion in response to a stinging sentencing memorandum filed Tuesday by federal prosecutors.
Prosecutors used excerpts of intercepted jailhouse emails and recorded telephone conversations to make a case that Harris-Moore, 20, was not as remorseful as he’s said. They’re arguing that Harris-Moore, the so-called Barefoot Bandit, should face the maximum punishment, about 6 1/2 years in prison.
Harris-Moore already has been sentenced in state court to serve more than seven years. Prosecutors and defense lawyers agree that the federal and state sentences should be served at the same time, not consecutively.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard A. Jones will weigh the various arguments when he determines a sentence Friday morning. It’s within Jones’ authority to impose consecutive sentences. That would nearly double the years Harris-Moore would spend behind bars.
Harris-Moore has been locked up at the Federal Detention Center in Sea-Tac since his July 2010 arrest in the Bahamas. He’s pleaded guilty to seven federal charges and 33 state charges connected to plane, boat and car thefts plus numerous burglaries and other crimes.
The papers filed Thursday include emails from Harris-Moore to people only identified by their initials. In many, he expresses remorse for his crimes and his intent to repay his victims.
Other emails show a determined young man with high hopes for his life after prison.
In an Aug. 4, 2011 email written to “John,” Harris-Moore explains that he likely isn’t a candidate for military service, but would happily “seize that opportunity in a minute. I do think it is a little far fetched to think I could get into the military, though,” Harris-Moore said.
The U.S. military generally does not accept convicted felons, nor does the Federal Transportation Administration grant pilot’s license to convicts.
Harris-Moore goes on to say that he’d been offered a job with a small commuter airline in Washington. The owner, Harris-Moore explained, appreciated Harris-Moore’s self-taught aviation skills, which he likened to the Wright brothers. His brazen flights despite no formal training were “inconceivable to most pilots and ALL instructors,” he said.
“I am confident that anyone else would have died,” Harris-Moore wrote of the trips he piloted in stolen planes. “Suffice it to say that the people who recognize what I could do with a formal education and specialized training see my potential and have made me job offer(s).”
Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3447; jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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