EVERETT – Joshua Goldman will spend at least 22 years of his life in prison for his role in killing a classmate.
Goldman, 19, of Seattle pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree murder with a deadly weapon. His trial was scheduled to start Monday in Snohomish County Superior Court.
Instead of going before a jury, Goldman softly answered “Yes” as Superior Court Judge Ellen Fair asked if he wanted to plead guilty.
Under the plea agreement, Goldman will testify against Jenson Hugh Hankins, 17, who is also charged with first-degree murder in the death of John Jasmer, 16.
Neither Jasper’s family nor Goldman’s relatives would discuss the plea Monday.
Prosecutors expect Goldman’s testimony to aid in Hankins’ trial, which is set to start Oct. 8.
“We’d like his testimony because there were only three people at the crime,” deputy prosecutor Michael Held said. “(Goldman’s) involvement as a witness for the state strengthens the state’s evidence.”
Goldman and Hankins were charged with luring Jasmer, a Roosevelt High School classmate, to an isolated area on the Tulalip Indian Reservation on Aug. 21, 2003.
The two allegedly dug a grave, led Jasmer to it, then stabbed and attacked him with a hammer, prosecutors said.
According to police statements, the two killed their football teammate because Jasmer was believed to have sexually assaulted Hankins’ girlfriend.
Goldman, the son of a Marysville police officer, eventually led Seattle and Snohomish County detectives to the grave.
Seattle police were investigating a missing person report on Jasmer in August 2003 when they secured incriminating statements from both of the suspects.
Rumors about the murder had circulated among friends of the three, but police didn’t start investigating at it as a homicide until a girl told her psychiatrist what she had heard about the murder.
Last week, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne ruled that a jury could hear statements Goldman and Hankins made to the police.
Prosecutors agreed to recommend the low end of the sentencing range in Goldman’s case. That would be a 22-year sentence.
A judge, however, is not bound by that recommendation. The maximum sentence Goldman faces is life in prison.
Goldman’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 9.
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@heraldnet.com.
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