I need comforting
Please everyone it would mean alot to me if everyone read about how fucked up our judicial system is.... and please, please respond
MURDER VS. MANSLAUGHTER
Three get sentences reduced due to '02 court ruling
• The county made deals with the convicts to avoid possible acquittals at retrials.
Travis Baker
Sun Staff
November 28, 2003
Three men in prison for their parts in second-degree murders committed in Kitsap County have had years cut from their sentences, the result of a 2002 state Supreme Court decision.
Charges of first-degree manslaughter were substituted against all three.
One has been released, having served all 10 years of his new sentence.
The deals have reduced the sentences of:
• Cory Bassett, 23, who was involved in the 1999 killing of Immanuel Taylor.
• Timothy Chancellor, 29, who was involved in the 1997 murder of Deborah Rosen.
• Napoleon "Dionte" Davis, 34, who shot his girlfriend in the head in 1993 and then disposed of her body.
Each case is part of the fallout from the October 2002 "Andress decision" of the state Supreme Court. It voided a longtime practice of charging second-degree murder in the deaths of people when the perpetrator's intent was to assault the victim, not to take a life.
The state Legislature acted quickly last winter to restore the practice, but the ruling left in question dozens of past convictions.
Kitsap County Prosecutor Russ Hauge said prosecutors statewide are waiting for the high court to say whether it intended for the ruling to be retroactive.
They're not hopeful that it won't be, he said.
Hauge said other counties are making similar deals, to preserve some of the penalty imposed on the defendants and to avoid risking acquittals at retrial.
Hauge said, "We are doing it on a case-by-case basis with the understanding we don't have much hope in the Supreme Court."
Hauge said Davis had served a significant amount of time and that the prospects for convicting him in a new trial were poor, due to the lapse of time and other factors.
Steve Rosen, Deborah Rosen's brother, speaking for his family, said the outcome shakes their confidence in the justice system, though he wasn't critical of the prosecutor's office.
"It's disappointing to see the justice system being manipulated the way it has been the past few years," he said.
"When they use the term 'justice being served,' there never seems to be an end to it. You don't know what might come around the corner and hit you when you're not looking, after you felt this has been resolved already."
He said the family hopes nothing similar happens in the case of Skinner, who is serving 21 years for second-degree murder predicated on a robbery, not an assault.
Tim Drury, a Hauge deputy prosecutor who handled all three cases, said no more are pending at present.
Mason County Prosecutor Gary Burleson said they have had no similar requests for retrial, though he expects some later.
Prosecutor Juelie Dalzell in Jefferson County said, "Thank God, Jefferson County has not had any felony murders based on assaults so we have not had to review any old files."
•••
What Bassett, Chancellor and Davis did
• Cory Bassett was one of several young South Kitsap people who gathered outside an East Bremerton apartment on June 16, 1999, planning to beat up Immanuel Taylor -- a potential second-degree assault.
Bassett ran forward and kicked the front door. But another of the group had brought a gun, and yet another fired it, killing Taylor.
Bassett pleaded guilty and got 13 1/4 years in prison for second-degree murder. He has been resentenced to 8 1/2 years for manslaughter, of which he has served four.
• Timothy Chancellor was with Michael Skinner early on the morning after Thanksgiving, 1997, when Skinner shot through the window of Deborah Rosen's car in East Bremerton and killed her in a robbery.
Chancellor hid Rosen's wallet. It was discovered a year later, and the two men were charged.
Chancellor pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and got 16 3/4 years. He has been resentenced to 11 1/3 years, of which he has served five.
• Napolean "Dionte" Davis was convicted of second-degree murder for shooting Katrina Thompson, his girlfriend, in the head with a shotgun on June 11, 1993.
He was convicted and got 13 2/3 years, which has been reduced now to 10 years. He had served that long and was released.
-- Travis Baker
Oh yeah Napolean Davis was the bastard who murdered my mother....
MURDER VS. MANSLAUGHTER
Three get sentences reduced due to '02 court ruling
• The county made deals with the convicts to avoid possible acquittals at retrials.
Travis Baker
Sun Staff
November 28, 2003
Three men in prison for their parts in second-degree murders committed in Kitsap County have had years cut from their sentences, the result of a 2002 state Supreme Court decision.
Charges of first-degree manslaughter were substituted against all three.
One has been released, having served all 10 years of his new sentence.
The deals have reduced the sentences of:
• Cory Bassett, 23, who was involved in the 1999 killing of Immanuel Taylor.
• Timothy Chancellor, 29, who was involved in the 1997 murder of Deborah Rosen.
• Napoleon "Dionte" Davis, 34, who shot his girlfriend in the head in 1993 and then disposed of her body.
Each case is part of the fallout from the October 2002 "Andress decision" of the state Supreme Court. It voided a longtime practice of charging second-degree murder in the deaths of people when the perpetrator's intent was to assault the victim, not to take a life.
The state Legislature acted quickly last winter to restore the practice, but the ruling left in question dozens of past convictions.
Kitsap County Prosecutor Russ Hauge said prosecutors statewide are waiting for the high court to say whether it intended for the ruling to be retroactive.
They're not hopeful that it won't be, he said.
Hauge said other counties are making similar deals, to preserve some of the penalty imposed on the defendants and to avoid risking acquittals at retrial.
Hauge said, "We are doing it on a case-by-case basis with the understanding we don't have much hope in the Supreme Court."
Hauge said Davis had served a significant amount of time and that the prospects for convicting him in a new trial were poor, due to the lapse of time and other factors.
Steve Rosen, Deborah Rosen's brother, speaking for his family, said the outcome shakes their confidence in the justice system, though he wasn't critical of the prosecutor's office.
"It's disappointing to see the justice system being manipulated the way it has been the past few years," he said.
"When they use the term 'justice being served,' there never seems to be an end to it. You don't know what might come around the corner and hit you when you're not looking, after you felt this has been resolved already."
He said the family hopes nothing similar happens in the case of Skinner, who is serving 21 years for second-degree murder predicated on a robbery, not an assault.
Tim Drury, a Hauge deputy prosecutor who handled all three cases, said no more are pending at present.
Mason County Prosecutor Gary Burleson said they have had no similar requests for retrial, though he expects some later.
Prosecutor Juelie Dalzell in Jefferson County said, "Thank God, Jefferson County has not had any felony murders based on assaults so we have not had to review any old files."
•••
What Bassett, Chancellor and Davis did
• Cory Bassett was one of several young South Kitsap people who gathered outside an East Bremerton apartment on June 16, 1999, planning to beat up Immanuel Taylor -- a potential second-degree assault.
Bassett ran forward and kicked the front door. But another of the group had brought a gun, and yet another fired it, killing Taylor.
Bassett pleaded guilty and got 13 1/4 years in prison for second-degree murder. He has been resentenced to 8 1/2 years for manslaughter, of which he has served four.
• Timothy Chancellor was with Michael Skinner early on the morning after Thanksgiving, 1997, when Skinner shot through the window of Deborah Rosen's car in East Bremerton and killed her in a robbery.
Chancellor hid Rosen's wallet. It was discovered a year later, and the two men were charged.
Chancellor pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and got 16 3/4 years. He has been resentenced to 11 1/3 years, of which he has served five.
• Napolean "Dionte" Davis was convicted of second-degree murder for shooting Katrina Thompson, his girlfriend, in the head with a shotgun on June 11, 1993.
He was convicted and got 13 2/3 years, which has been reduced now to 10 years. He had served that long and was released.
-- Travis Baker
Oh yeah Napolean Davis was the bastard who murdered my mother....