Tuesday,

August 22, 2000

Guilty plea in May gunbattle

Felon admits to having gun

By JIM HALEY

Herald Writer

An Everett man who allegedly fired a pistol during a May 30 melee that led to two deaths has pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Anthony Lewis Bovan, 21, entered the plea to the felony Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court, admitting that he had a gun in his possession and he knew that was illegal because of a previous felony conviction.

Meanwhile, a sixth person, Christopher W. Dinsmore, present during the May 30 fatal shootings of Jesse Stoner and Jason Thompson, both 18, has been charged with a crime.

On Friday, Jesse Louis Sorensen, 18, was charged with a similar crime, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. Sorensen also has a previous felony conviction making it illegal for him to possess a weapon, according to charging papers.

He pleaded innocent on Monday, and is being held in lieu of $25,000 bail.

Victims Stoner and Thompson had been riding in the back seat of a car leaving the melee, which started as a fistfight between two youths.

The incident happened outside the south Everett home of Dale B. Cramm, 44. His son, Dennis J. Cramm, 17, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder for allegedly getting a semiautomatic rifle and firing at the car containing Stoner and Thompson as it was fleeing.

A former housemate of the Cramms, John Michael Jauregui, 24, also is charged with rioting after witnesses reported he had carried two pistols in the waistband of his pants while the younger Cramm fought another youth.

Both Bovan and Sorensen are in trouble for allegedly grabbing the pistols from Jauregui and firing them, court papers said. Sorensen fired into the air, but "chaos ensued, and erupted into additional gunfire," said an affidavit written by deputy prosecutor Edward Stemler.

Dale Cramm is charged with drug-related felonies, as well as tampering with witnesses and evidence.

Dinsmore, 20, the sixth person facing criminal charges from that night, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder for allegedly contributing to the confusion that led to the fatal shots.

Three cars full of young people went to the Cramm home to watch the fight, and several people were already there.

Bovan will be sentenced Aug. 30, according to court papers.

The prosecutor agreed to recommend a six-month jail sentence plus 12 months of community supervision.

In addition, Bovan has agreed to "testify truthfully in all proceedings and interviews related to the circumstances" surrounding the deaths, papers said.

The prosecutor also agreed not to file burglary charges against Bovan in two outstanding cases if he cooperates with the prosecution, documents said.