EVERETT — The Camano Island man who shot and killed James Scannell at Langus Riverfront Park was sentenced Monday to over three decades in prison.
In December, a Snohomish County Superior Court jury convicted Kyle Caperoon, 31, of first-degree murder and unlawful firearm possession. Jurors deliberated for less than four hours.
Caperoon is the last of three defendants to be sentenced in the drug robbery turned fatal shooting of Scannell, 56, on Aug. 31, 2020.
Initially, prosecutors charged all three men with first-degree murder. Caperoon was the only one convicted of that original charge.
In September, Joshua Lowery, 29, was sentenced to 20 years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
And last month, Christopher Benson, 45, got 8½ years in a plea agreement for first-degree robbery.
Under state sentencing guidelines, Caperoon, who had several prior felony convictions, faced between 31 and 39⅔ years. Deputy prosecutor Michelle Rutherford pushed for the high end of that range.
Caperoon’s public defender Donald Wackerman requested a prison term just under 30 years, below the standard range. He noted the other defendants received much lighter sentences.
“The additional 10 years that the state is requesting serves no constructive purpose,” Wackerman said.
On Monday, Caperoon said he has “night terrors” over killing Scannell. He wakes up sweating and breathing heavy. He apologized to Scannell’s family.
“I had no intention to hurt anyone,” he said Monday. “What happened was a horrible accident. I regret it.”
Judge Marybeth Dingledy sentenced Caperoon to the low end of the range, 31 years.
“I believe you that you didn’t intend to pull the trigger, but when you combine guns and drugs and people who are not sober, things like this happen,” the judge said.
Caperoon agreed.
For a while before the killing, Scannell had been shorting Caperoon on drug deals, according to prosecutors.
So on the afternoon of Aug. 31, 2020, Caperoon and Lowery, both from Camano Island, planned the robbery. They met Benson, of Tulalip, at Quil Ceda Creek Casino. Unaware of the plan, Benson drove them in his Ford Escape to Langus Riverfront Park, according to charging papers.
While driving to the park, Lowery showed Benson an envelope of fake money they were going to use for the robbery. Caperoon showed him a 9 mm pistol.
When the trio got to the park, Scannell was sitting alone in his Mercury Montego in a boat launch parking lot, the charges said. Lowery got in the passenger seat. Caperoon sat in the back.
Caperoon pulled out his pistol. He told Scannell to “run his pockets,” the defendant later told police. Scannell told them he couldn’t give them anything. He had too much riding on the deal.
Caperoon told investigators Scannell then reached for the gun and it went off. He reported he didn’t think he pulled the trigger.
“It was literally an accident,” Caperoon later said in a police interview. “The gun fired without my finger on the trigger and it went off and (expletive), I don’t even know, ended both our lives.”
Lowery and Caperoon ran to Benson’s car and fled the scene.
Kayakers found Scannell, of Everett, shot in the head in the front seat of his Mercury.
In his hand, he was clutching real and fake money.
After Dingledy handed down the sentence Monday, Caperoon told her “I just want to say thank you very much.”
She responded, telling him the sentence “will give you a lot of time to think about what you’ve done and I hope that you are able to do something with the rest of your life.”
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.
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