Erik Edward Shreffner was described by his attorney Thursday as a good man with no criminal history who deserved leniency for his role in killing a man Aug. 25 on a downtown Everett street corner.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge James Allendoerfer agreed that Shreffner’s case posed an unusual set of facts because of his clean record and his general good citizenship.
But the judge also noted that a drunken stupor and Shreffner’s kicks to the head and chest of Russell Walden, 42, contributed to the death of “an innocent and gentle man.”
For Shreffner’s conviction of first-degree manslaughter, Allendoerfer sentenced him to eight years in prison, just six months less than the top end of the sentencing range.
Julie Mohr, deputy prosecutor, recommended the high end.
Shreffner was tried for second-degree murder in May, and a jury locked 9-3 on a vote to convict him of that crime. When the panel couldn’t agree, jurors unanimously convicted him of the lesser crime of manslaughter.
Walden encountered Shreffner and some of his friends several times as the men walked along Broadway in Everett from one bar to another. Shreffner repeatedly accused Walden of withholding the name of someone who had “jumped” Shreffner earlier.
At the intersection of Broadway and Hewitt Avenue, a heated argument broke out between Shreffner and Walden, and an Everett police officer calmed them down. Minutes after the officer had left, he got a radio report of a fight and a beating.
He drove back to the same intersection and saw Walden face down in the street.
Witnesses said someone in the group with Shreffner punched Walden. Other witnesses identified Shreffner as coming back twice to the prone Walden and stomping him in the head and chest.
Walden suffered massive head injuries and died six days later.
Prosecutor Mohr also charged Michael Edward Kyzar, 33, of Snohomish with murder. Another companion, Leonard Cory Decker, 36, of Marysville was charged with rendering criminal assistance for allegedly lying to police.
Kyzar’s and Decker’s trials are scheduled for September.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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