Tuesday, May 13, 2003

Long Cramm sentence stands

By Jim Haley

Herald Writer

The murder convictions and long sentence of Dennis James Cramm were upheld Monday by the state Court of Appeals.

Cramm was 17 on May 30, 2000, when a fistfight was arranged at his home in south Everett. He and others stashed guns around the property in case friends of the opponent brought weapons.

Not long after the fight started, gunfire broke out, and Cramm began shooting with a high-powered rifle into a car that was leaving the scene.

Jason Thompson and Jesse Stoner, both 18, of Everett, were killed.

Cramm was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, but his attorney maintained the verdicts were unfair and asked the appeals panel to send the case back to Snohomish County Superior Court for a new trial.

Chief among lawyer Tom Conom's complaints was that Cramm had no intention of shooting Thompson and Stoner. He had been firing at another individual who had used their car as a shield, said Conom, a Lynnwood lawyer.

Nevertheless, Cramm fired 10 shots though the rear window of the vehicle containing five teenagers. Jurors agreed with prosecutors. They said this was an example of "extreme indifference," and convicted Cramm of the two first-degree murder counts.

In January, Conom argued that the crime of murder by extreme indifference is unconstitutionally vague in connection with a person acting in self-defense, as Cramm maintains he was.

Charles Blackman, deputy prosecutor, argued that Cramm was aware of the risks when he picked up the rifle and fired.

On Monday, Blackman said much of what the defense raised on appeal were jury questions that it resolved against Cramm.

Cramm also charged the trial judge, Linda Krese, made a mistake when she sentenced him to consecutive 30-year sentences for a total of 60 years in prison.

"There is no merit to the claim," wrote Judge William Baker, with Anne Ellington and Kenneth Grosse concurring.