Friday, April 6, 2001

60 years for Cramm

Dennis Cramm sheds tears as he listens to relatives of his two murder victims speak of their grief. Cramm was sentenced Thursday to 60 years in prison for two counts of first-degree murder.

In front of his son Jesse's photograph and urn containing his ashes, father Ken Stoner speaks about his son. His son's killer, Dennis Cramm, was sentenced to 60 years in prison Thursday.

By Scott North

Herald Writer

They remembered on Thursday.

They remembered little boys, full of life and mischief. They remembered watching them grow into young men nearing the end of high school, poised for futures full of hope and promise.

They remembered a warm spring evening nearly a year ago when gunshots rang out in a south Everett neighborhood and the lives of 18-year-olds Jason Thompson and Jesse Stoner came to a sudden, bloody end.

Most of all, they remembered who was responsible.

A tearful Dennis Cramm, 18, was sentenced to 60 years in prison Thursday for his role in a May 30 melee outside his home that began as a fistfight and ended in a gun battle. A jury on Feb. 26 convicted Cramm of two counts of first-degree murder, ruling he acted with extreme indifference when he repeatedly fired an SKS military-style rifle into a car carrying the unarmed victims.

"You may not believe me, but I'm sorry about what happened," Cramm told the families of his victims, tears streaming down his face. "I never meant to kill those kids."

Cramm's sentence

Here's how Dennis Cramm's 60-year prison sentence breaks down:

30 years for the first-degree murder of Jason Thompson.

30 years for the first-degree murder of Jesse Stoner.

One year for being a felon in possession of a firearm. In keeping with state law, Cramm was ordered to serve the murder sentences consecutively, and the firearms sentence concurrent with the other counts. Prosecutors say he won't become eligible for any good-behavior reduction until after he serves a minimum of 50 years. That means Cramm likely will be behind bars until his mid-70s.

The sentence from Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese was near the top punishment allowed under state guidelines. But it brought little comfort to the victims' families.

"How can you be satisfied when your children are dead and another life is ruined by an act of senseless violence?" Ken Stoner asked. He'd earlier stood before the judge with the tiny, soft leather shoes his son had worn as an infant, a photograph of how his boy had looked as a young adult, and the boxy urn that now contains his ashes.

Jesse Stoner was a joker and a poet who talked about one day becoming a firefighter, his father said. He likened his son to a rose that had been pulled from the ground before it got a chance to fully flower.

Sonny Thompson showed the judge two large, poster-size boards filled with photographs of his son. They documented how Jason Thompson had grown from an infant in his father's arm to a 6-foot-4-inch, 280-pound athlete who was a high school standout in football, basketball and track.

"Jason was our pride and joy. He is our shining star," Sonny Thompson told the judge.

But instead of attending his son's graduation last year, he wound up having to buy him a coffin and pick out a burial plot.

"That's where my kid lies, forever," he told Cramm, showing the defendant a photograph of Jason Thompson's grave.

Deputy prosecutor Ed Stemler urged Krese to consider sentencing Cramm to 64 years in prison, the maximum punishment allowed under state guidelines. Not only did he kill two people, he endangered scores more by repeatedly shooting a high-powered rifle in a residential neighborhood, Stemler said.

Cramm's attorney, Royce Ferguson, tried and failed to convince Krese that there were legal grounds to sentence his client to less than the nearly 51-year prison term that prosecutors said was the mandatory minimum. He told the judge he'd decided against calling any witnesses to speak on Cramm's behalf. But two of the defendant's friends, both teen-age girls, asked Krese for the opportunity anyway.

Penny Murphy said there is reason to believe that Cramm shot in self-defense, and she said he is not a heartless killer. Lana Clearbrook also said that Cramm had been a good friend and that the killings were just something that happened "one bad day."

"I mean, it's the saddest thing ever," she said. "He shouldn't have been put in that situation."

The judge said that evidence presented at trial showed that others at Cramm's home, particularly the adults who were present, showed poor judgment that day.

With the defendant's father, Dale Cramm, 45, seated quietly in the back of the courtroom, the judge said it was clear that some of the adults behaved like they were "playing the part of an action hero in some movie."

Then there were the guns owned by Dale Cramm and others, which were placed around the yard in preparation for the planned fistfight between Dennis Cramm and a 16-year-old.

"Obviously, this tragedy would not have happened if there hadn't been guns and firearms all over the place," the judge said.

It is true that others at the Cramm house that night fired the first shots, the judge said. But evidence also is clear that all of the guns fired were owned by the Cramms or their friends, she said.

The judge said she was convinced that Thompson and Stoner did not do anything wrong except accompany some friends to watch a fight. Dennis Cramm, on the other hand, testified that he grabbed one of his father's rifles and began blasting.

"He chose, deliberately -- that is his testimony -- to shoot through the car," she said.

The judge noted that five young people were in the vehicle and that it is "nothing short of incredible" that more people weren't killed.

When Krese announced the sentence, Dale Cramm bolted from the courtroom.

The elder Cramm is scheduled to appear in front of the judge April 23 for a hearing on a motion to grant his son a new trial, based in part on his previous unwillingness to waive his right against self-incrimination and testify in his son's behalf.

Prosecutors and Dennis Cramm's attorney say there is scant chance that Dennis Cramm will win a new trial.