EVERETT – A gang member accused of killing a Seattle teenager in Mountlake Terrace was sentenced this afternoon to 13 years in prison.
Robert Langendoerfer, 22, pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree manslaughter in the death of Britney Galindez. He acknowledged that a jury likely would have held him responsible.
Galindez’s body was found floating in Lake Ballinger in October 2008.
Witnesses told police that Galindez, 17, was choked, stabbed in the neck with a screwdriver and then held below the lake’s surface. They said Langendoerfer was angry with her after she threw up next to him in a car after a night of drinking.
The allegations, made by a trio of admitted gang members, initially prompted prosecutors to file a first-degree murder charge against Langendoerfer.
On Monday, though, prosecutors acknowledged problems with the case. In a statement submitted to the judge in support of the plea agreement, lawyers on both sides said it was possible that one or more of the witnesses could change their stories at trial, putting the outcome in doubt.
Galindez’s family attended today’s hearing. The teen’s grandmother Kathleen Henderson said her family is devastated by the loss of Galindez. They believe Langendoerfer deserves a longer prison sentence, Henderson said.
“The family is very angry. We don’t feel the sentence is adequate,” Henderson said.
Langendoerfer today told the judge he is innocent. Through his attorney, public defender Sonja Hardenbrook, he claimed the police investigation was botched and that Galindez’s family will never know who really killed her.
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