EVERETT — A Granite Falls man who accidentally killed his girlfriend last year while messing around with a handgun was sentenced Thursday to nearly five years in prison.
Modesto Myers-Mejia, 26, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree manslaughter while armed with a gun. He admitted that his negligence caused the death of Joanna Marsh, the mother of his two children.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese agreed to a low-end sentence. The majority of the sentence — three years — is mandatory because of the weapons enhancement added to the charge. The defendant won’t get time off for good behavior on that portion of the sentence.
Krese said she reached the same conclusion prosecutors and investigators did: Myers-Mejia never intended to kill Marsh.
The judge also was told that Marsh’s family supported the plea agreement and has been supportive of Myers-Mejia since the shooting. Both families were in court Thursday. No one spoke.
The shooting happened April 11 after a birthday party at the couple’s Granite Falls home. Myers-Mejia called 911, reporting that he’d accidentally shot his girlfriend and he needed help, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Paul Stern wrote in charging papers.
The couple’s children, ages 1 and 4, were in the room at the time of the shooting. They were not injured.
A child interview specialist later spoke with the older girl, who gave no indication that she’d witnessed her mother’s death.
Detectives found Marsh, 22, lying on the floor, a handgun nearby. Investigators recovered a spent bullet in the floor beneath the bed. Trajectory analysis indicates that the bullet was fired from a nearly vertical position, Stern wrote.
Investigators also found a contact wound on Marsh’s abdomen, indicating that the gun’s muzzle was pressed against her skin when it fired, according to court papers.
Myers-Mejia told investigators that he keeps a gun in the bedroom as protection. He told detectives that before the shooting he used the gun as part of the couple’s foreplay, Stern wrote.
“This was just a tragedy,” defense attorney Natalie Tarantino said. “The couple had a thing for guns and lawfully owned several. This is what happens when firearms are involved.”
Her client was in such grief after the shooting that he could barely speak to her, Tarantino said.
“He lost pretty much everything that day,” she said.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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