EVERETT — In September 2021, Sean Baskins was weaving through traffic on Evergreen Way, driving two times the legal speed limit, when he crashed into Thomas Ogden and killed him. He was sentenced Tuesday in front of Ogden’s grieving family and friends.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Janice Ellis gave the Bothell man 8 years in prison.
“We have an obligation to each other, to act in ways that are ethical, moral, lawful,” Ellis told Baskins. “One can only hope that his light shined bright enough, to guide his daughter and his friends and family who miss him terribly.”
Under state sentencing guidelines, Baskins, 37, faced between 6½ and 8 ½ years. The defense recommended the low end of that range. Prosecutors asked for the high end.
On the morning of Sept. 21, 2021, witnesses saw a Nissan Pathfinder driving north at a high rate of speed on Evergreen Way. An Everett police officer estimated the car was going 70 mph in a 35 mph zone, according to the charges filed in Snohomish County Superior Court. Other witnesses told investigators they saw the car going even faster, and pass through a red light.
Officers reported the Pathfinder used the center lane to pass other cars. An officer tried to follow the car, but the driver weaved through traffic and drove out of sight, according to court documents.
A witness told police the car tried to drive her off the road. As it did, she made eye contact with the driver, later identified as Baskins. The witness reported the driver seemed “high, drunk, and mad,” and that she would never forget his face, according to the charges.
Another driver that morning reported the car swerved around her. As it swerved back, only the driver’s side tires were on the ground, according to court papers.
That’s when it crashed into the passenger side of a Nissan Frontier turning left near the intersection of 41st Street and Rucker Avenue, the charges said. The force of the crash pushed the Frontier, driven by Ogden, into the parking lot of an auto repair shop.
The Everett officer who tried to follow Baskins arrived at the scene. The Bothell man had exited his car with his hands above his head, and told him, “I did it, I’m the one, I (expletive) up,” according to court documents. Police reported he seemed “extremely energetic and paranoid … had been awake for a couple days with only moments of sleep at various times.”
Baskins suffered a collapsed lung. Ogden was trapped in his car, and his breathing stopped while police waited for paramedics. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Ogden was 43.
He was survived by his daughter, parents and three siblings.
A toxicology report revealed that the defendant’s blood contained 0.20 milligrams of methamphetamine, prosecutors alleged. Police found a nearly empty vodka bottle, 18 pills used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and meth powder in Baskins’ car after the crash.
On Tuesday, Baskins’ attorney Erika Bleyl asked Ellis for the low-end sentence, arguing his history of mental illness and substance abuse were at the core of this crash.
From the ages 27 to 34, Baskins had socially isolated himself in his parents’ basement, drinking alone, according to a social worker’s report. Baskins had removed himself to keep away from abusing drugs.
Baskins started displaying symptoms of bipolar disorder, according to the report. He began abusing meth again, and eventually was kicked out of his parent’s house. In April 2021, he tried to get help at a medical facility for his drug addiction and mental health issues, but within 72 hours, he was back on the street with no after care, his lawyer said in court.
Baskins also sought treatment after the fatal crash, remaining clean and sober by the time prosecutors filed charges in October 2022, over a year after the crash, his lawyers wrote in court filings. In late December, Baskins pleaded guilty to one count of vehicular homicide reckless manner.
But the reality of serving a lengthy prison sentence and hearing from Ogden’s loved ones “weighed heavily” on his conscience, and he relapsed, according to his lawyers. In January, police arrested him for breaking a building window while he was reportedly experiencing psychosis.
Baskins was convicted of third-degree malicious mischief and sentenced to 60 days in jail. Prosecutors amended the original plea agreement, which offered a recommendation of seven years in prison, to 8 ½ years, arguing his behavior demonstrated someone who did not want to take accountability.
In court Tuesday, the defendant offered an apology for his actions.
“Thomas Ogden was loved and cherished, I will never forget Mr. Ogden for the rest of my life,” Baskins said. “From the bottom of my heart, I am sorry and I sincerely apologize.”
In the emotional courtroom, Ogden’s ex-wife, Kitel Bonillo Ogden, said Baskins took away the center of her and her daughter’s world.
“A love that has experienced the highs and lows of decades doesn’t disappear, even if it changes,” she said. “I will now spend more of my life remembering Thomas than I had time to love him.”
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Sean Baskins was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison. Baskins was sentenced to 8 years.
Jonathan Tall: 425-339-3486; jonathan.tall@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @EDHJonTall.
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