By A reckless moment with a loaded rifle cost a girl her life and will put a Sultan man behind bars for a dozen years.
Herald Writer
A reckless moment with a loaded rifle cost a 16-year-old girl her life, and will likely mean an 18-year-old Sultan man will spend 12 1/2years in prison.
Rey Rivas Jr. pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree manslaughter in the July 28 incident during a target practice session near a logging road south of Sultan.
He was accused in the shooting death of Susie Buren, who was shot in the abdomen with a rifle bullet. At the time Snohomish County sheriff’s officers arrived, she was conscious and told officers Rivas had accidentally shot her.
His defense attorney, Rick Leo, said Rivas and deputy prosecutor Kathy Jo Kristof agreed to recommend to the judge that he spend 150 months in prison. That’s about the middle of the range established by state law and includes an automatic five years because a firearm was used in the crime.
Sentencing is set for June 25 in front of Snohomish County Superior Court Judge George Bowden.
Rivas was taken into custody immediately and is being held on $100,000 bail pending sentencing. If he gets the 12 1/2years, he’ll probably have to spend at least 11 years behind bars even with time off for good behavior.
On Tuesday, Judge Larry McKeeman asked Rivas a series of questions to make sure he understood his right to a trial and to refute the prosecutor’s allegations. He quietly answered, "Yes sir," to those questions.
The victim, a Renton resident, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she later died.
Rivas told police he was holding the rifle while Buren adjusted a paper target. He said he was starting to step backward and was checking the ground behind him when the British .303-caliber rifle discharged, court documents said.
He told officers he had no idea what caused the rifle to fire.
According to court documents, police examined the rifle and learned that the trigger pull was within the normal range of about 5 pounds pressure. The rifle would not have discharged unless somebody had pulled the trigger, documents said.
In addition, prosecutors said Rivas had completed a firearms safety course in 1990 and should have known not to have his finger on the trigger with another person in front of him.
In a statement to the court, Rivas admitted he had been reckless.
You can call Herald Writer Jim Haley at 425-339-3447
or send e-mail to haley@heraldnet.com.
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