Judge rejects deal for woman who helped kill Tumwater man

By Jeremy Pawloski | The Olympian • Published September 06, 2008

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A Thurston County Superior Court judge rejected a plea deal that called for April Frazier to receive a four-year and five-month prison sentence for her role in Jerry Totten’s death, and instead imposed a 10-year prison sentence today.

April Frazier had earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other charges stemming from the Tumwater man's January 2007 homicide by strangulation.

In exchange for Frazier’s guilty plea and her promise to testify truthfully against two other codefendants charged with first-degree murder in Totten’s death, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Bruneau agreed to dismiss her murder charge and to recommend a four-year and five-month prison sentence.

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christine Pomeroy’s decision to reject the sentence recommended by the plea and instead impose an “exceptional sentence” of 10 years for Frazier’s second-degree manslaughter conviction produced gasps from the audience during today's sentencing hearing.

Pomeroy cited Frazier’s “extreme indifference” to Totten as he was screaming and being beaten, then killed by two other men in his I Street Tumwater home as a factor in her exceptional sentence. Pomeroy she understands why the prosecution entered into the plea agreement with Frazier in order to win a conviction against the two other men charged in the case, but she rejected its recommendation nonetheless.

The two other men were convicted in Totten's death, and were sentenced to lenghty prison sentences.

For more information, see Page C1 in Saturday's Olympian.