A 16-year-old girl stood before a judge Thursday, sometimes turning toward a man in the courtroom wearing jail garb and shackles.
She was firm, but didn’t yell and scream at him, as she said she had contemplated. Instead, she forgave the relative, who had sexually abused her for years.
Then he was sent to prison for more than three decades.
Brian Keith Komora, formerly of Monroe, got as much time behind bars as Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Richard Thorpe could legally give him – at little more than 33 years.
Thorpe took a chance that 10 years of the sentence might be shaved off if it is overturned by an appeals court because he imposed an exceptionally long term. He accepted the recommendation of deputy prosecutor George Appel, who said there’s a loophole in the law that allows for an exceptionally long term in this case.
Defense attorney Paul Jacobson of Redmond disagreed with Appel and the judge, saying that at most Komora could be sentenced to about 23 years. He asked the judge for a sentence of 171/2 years.
When it was time for Komora’s victim to address him, the girl calmly walked to the bench and told him that she only wanted an apology, and for him to read a letter she had written to him.
She reminded Komora, 44, that he had put the family through a lot of pain.
Thorpe, who presided over Komora’s trial, said the girl exhibited both courage and charity.
The girl’s mother said Komora’s conviction and sentencing ends 14 years of fear living with him. She also forgave him, but said “it has been an ugly journey.”
Komora was convicted of six sexual offenses against the girl, starting when she was 11 or 12 years old.
He maintained his innocence during trial, saying any inappropriate touching was a misunderstanding, and the girl’s mother and a family friend coached the girl into making the accusations.
In court Thursday, Komora apologized to the court and the family.
“I do love my family, my children,” he said.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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