Relatives of Jonathan McCamey aired frustration with the law Thursday when several of them stood before a judge and protested how much time in prison the man who killed their loved one will spend.
“I don’t believe in my heart that four years is enough for taking someone’s life,” brother Kristopher McCamey told Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Ronald Castleberry.
Four years is the top of the sentencing range for Dale John Brodahl, 25, of Marysville, who pleaded guilty to a hit-and-run traffic accident that killed Jonathan McCamey on June 2.
Castleberry gave Brodahl the four years, despite an agreed-upon recommendation by his defense attorney and the prosecutor for a term of a little less than 31/2 years.
Brodahl struck McCamey on 51st Avenue NE in Arlington and didn’t stop his Jeep Cherokee. Instead, he and a companion continued to drive to make a drug deal, according to court documents.
Any sentence is “woefully inadequate” for the offense, deputy prosecutor Paul Stern said. However, he said he lowered his recommendation partly because Brodahl pleaded guilty early in the judicial process.
Defense attorney Donald Wackerman said he understands why McCamey’s family is frustrated. However, Brodahl has shown remorse, and talked about pleading guilty almost immediately, Wackerman said.
“I think the magnitude of what he had done terrified him,” Wackerman said.
Brodahl apologized to McCamey’s family, and said he “made a very, very bad decision that night.”
Under the law, someone involved in an accident is required to stop, render aid to a victim and cooperate with authorities.
Brodahl told police he was driving a friend from Arlington to Marysville to buy methamphetamine when he saw someone moving in the roadway, court documents said. He told police that he had no time to take evasive action.
McCamey’s body was found in the road at 4:40 a.m. June 2, about three hours after he was seen leaving a cafe in Arlington a block away.
Arlington police received a tip about a gold Jeep Cherokee with fresh front-end damage and matched it with evidence.
This is the second death with links to the defendant. In April 2002, Brodahl helped his brother clean up after the beating and stabbing of Brady Sheary in Marysville, court records show. Dale Brodahl was convicted of rendering criminal assistance and served months in the Marysville jail.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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