Judge rejects terms of deal

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

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OLYMPIA – A woman who testified that she helped Jerry Totten's killers get into his Tumwater home so they could bind, beat and strangle him will spend 10 years in prison after a judge rejected the terms of a plea deal.

There were gasps from the courtroom audience when Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christine Pomeroy rejected the plea deal, which would have given April Frazier four years and five months in prison.

Later, Totten's friends and family members who were at the hearing said they were glad the judge rejected the terms of the plea deal.

"It's better than what it was, and it was what we hoped for," said Totten's sister, Shirley Inman, of the sentence.

Totten's niece, Elaine Totten, said she was "very pleased," adding that the shorter sentence for Frazier would have been "a slap in the face."

Frazier, 28, had pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and other charges stemming from Totten's January 2007 homicide by strangulation. Totten had met Frazier in Alcoholics Anonymous. After they became friends, Totten let Frazier stay in a trailer in the yard of his I Street home in Tumwater and helped her with expenses, Inman has said.

Frazier and her boyfriend at the time, co-defendant Michael Sublett, were arrested in connection with Totten's homicide in Las Vegas in mid-February 2007, gambling at a casino with money they stole from Totten.

Frazier had testified at trial that she didn't know Totten would be killed when they broke into his home, but that she and the two co-defendants would steal Totten's possessions, including his rare-coin collections and his checkbooks, so that Sublett could access Totten's bank accounts.

In exchange for Frazier's guilty plea and her promise to testify against the two co-defendants charged with first-degree murder in Totten's death, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Bruneau agreed to dismiss her murder charge and to recommend a prison sentence of four years and five months.

Sublett, 48, was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder in July in connection with Totten's homicide. The third co-defendant, Christopher Olsen, also was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 41 years in prison.