When a judge sentenced Jason M. Delano to prison for killing his 16-month-old son in 2000, the defendant had been convicted of murder. He got 14 years behind bars.
On Tuesday, Delano returned to Snohomish County Superior Court, where he pleaded guilty to a less severe manslaughter charge in the death of toddler Reed Delano.
The judge sentenced him to the high end of the sentencing range, a little more than eight years in prison. Julie Busch / The Herald
With time off for good behavior, that means the former Everett man, 25, will have about 18 months more to serve, said his attorney, public defender Neal Friedman.
It was an appropriate outcome, said Friedman, adding that he approves of state Supreme Court rulings tossing out scores of second-degree murder convictions where intent to kill wasn’t proved.
Delano’s was one of 14 similar cases in Snohomish County where defendants have gotten courts to remove previous convictions based on the Supreme Court rulings.
“I can say I agree with what the Supreme Court has ruled,” Friedman told Judge Ellen Fair on Tuesday.
Out of court, Friedman said the murder charges when a death occurs during an assault “was an unfair charge, and the state Supreme Court was absolutely right to knock it out.”
Veteran deputy prosecutor Paul Stern disagreed.
“We’ve got wounds being reopened because the Supreme Court chose to ignore decades of their own opinions,” Stern said, adding that that form of murder charge had been upheld many times previously.
Eight people previously convicted of murder have returned to the Snohomish County Courthouse. Most of them have had new and different charges filed. Two have been released because they have already served more time than the new charge included.
In 1999, prosecutors alleged that Reed Delano died of long-term child abuse. He had been struck in the head with such force that it caused his brain to swell and shut down his lungs and heart.
In court Tuesday, Delano signed a document admitting that he recklessly caused his son’s death. “Words cannot describe how sad I feel,” he wrote.
Reed’s mother, who now lives in California, could not attend the hearing.
In an e-mail, she told The Herald that her son’s death is “the worst pain, worst depression anyone could go through. … This is what I have been living with. The dreams, the memories. The thoughts will never go away.”
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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