MOUNT VERNON — A man who killed six people, including a Skagit County sheriff’s deputy, in a shooting rampage last year pleaded guilty Tuesday and will spend the rest of his life in a mental hospital or prison.
Isaac Zamora entered the pleas to 18 charges, including aggravated murder, attempted murder and burglary, after prosecutor Rich Weyrich agreed he would not seek the death penalty.
Detectives from the Snohomish County Multi-Agency Response Team were the lead investigators on the case.
“Mr. Zamora won’t ever walk the streets again,” Weyrich said Tuesday. “From a public safety standpoint, we’ve accomplished that.”
Zamora, 29, began his rampage Sept. 2, 2008, near the town of Alger, north of Mount Vernon, and continued it on I-5. Described by his family as mentally ill, Zamora was captured after a police chase and later told investigators he killed for God.
The dead included a man who had accused Zamora of trespassing, a woman who lived nearby, two construction workers, a motorist on the freeway, and Deputy Anne Jackson. Jackson had frequently tried to help Zamora’s family with his mental illness, Zamora’s mother said.
Zamora pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to two aggravated murder counts, in the deaths of Jackson and Alger resident Chester Rose. Because the prosecutor is not contesting those pleas, Zamora will begin serving his time in a mental hospital rather than a prison.
In Washington, defendants found legally insane can be released from a mental hospital if, after treatment, they later are deemed competent and no longer dangerous. If Zamora is ever cleared from the hospital, however, he will spend the rest of his life in a state prison for the four aggravated murder counts to which he pleaded guilty.
Weyrich said Tuesday that Zamora clearly had mental issues. Weyrich said he agreed to the plea deal because he was concerned that a jury might acquit Zamora on all counts, by reason of insanity, which meant that one day he could be freed.
The other victims were David Radcliffe, 57, of Clear Lake; Greg Gillum, 38, of Mount Vernon; Julie Binschus, 48, of Alger; and LeRoy Lange, 64, of Methow.
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