The third and final man accused of killing Larry Kloes of Snohomish a year ago was found guilty of murder Wednesday in Snohomish County Superior Court.
Perry Marshall Rothermel, 19, of Puyallup accepted a prosecutor’s deal that would someday allow him to be released from prison, and was found guilty of first-degree murder, robbery and assault. This type of trial by a judge is similar to a guilty plea, but leaves the open door to possible appeals.
Judge Gerald Knight had warned Rothermel repeatedly that a trial would almost certainly result in him being found guilty and serving life in prison. Before Wednesday, deputy prosecutor Matt Hunter had Rothermel charged with aggravated first-degree murder, a crime that carries a penalty of life in prison without the possibility of release.
The resolution came two days before Rothermel was scheduled to go before a jury. It also came two days after a co-defendant, Austin Mays, was found guilty by the same judge under a similar deal.
Rothermel will serve at least 35 years in prison, and the judge could impose as much as a 46-year term. But it’s likely Rothermel will get out of prison while he’s still in his 50s or 60s, public defender Caroline Mann said.
Mays, who was 15 at the time of the crime, will serve at least 40 years behind bars. The third defendant, Jeremy Richard Boone, 17, of Sumner pleaded guilty and was sentenced to about 36 years in prison.
“I’m relieved for the Kloes family, that they won’t have to go through the trial, the waiting and the appeals,” said Mark Roe, chief deputy prosecutor. “This would have been the strongest case that I had ever had if it had gone to trial.”
The depth of the evidence prompted Mann to advise Rothermel he had no chance of being acquitted in a jury trial, and faced life in prison, she said.
Mann said Rothermel “has always been deeply remorseful. He just had a difficult time accepting how much (prison) time he was facing.”
Rothermel’s family convinced him he could still have a life after prison if he took the prosecutor’s deal.
People in their 50s or 60s seem old to a 19-year-old, Mann said, and “he just didn’t see any point to getting out of prison in his 50s or 60s.”
Prosecutors alleged that Mays recruited the two other Pierce County teens to rob and kill Kloes for his money and guns. Kloes is a former neighbor who previously had allowed Mays to stay at his Snohomish home.
Prosecutors said the killing was revenge for Kloes reporting Mays to police for stealing from him.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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