PORT ANGELES – The legal saga of Mark J. Seamands, a Sequim man who was acquitted of felony assault after he seared his willing teenage sons with a family brand, ended Friday when prosecutors elected not to press lesser charges.
A Clallam County Superior Court jury on May 13 acquitted Seamands of second-degree assault, a felony, for branding the boys on Nov. 25, 2008, in a case that drew worldwide media attention to the North Olympic Peninsula.
The nine-man, three-woman jury had deadlocked 6-6 on the lesser charge of fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor. Judge S. Brooke Taylor declared a mistrial on the lesser charge, leaving open the possibility that the county Prosecutor’s Office could still charge Seamands with fourth-degree assault in county District Court.
But on Friday, county Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly decided not to go down that road in a five-minute court hearing that ended with Seamands, a 39-year-old road construction worker, leaving the courtroom and refusing to comment, as he has throughout the case.
‘Not in boys’ best interests’
Kelly issued a statement Friday calling the branding “cruel and unusual” but said seeking a misdemeanor conviction “was simply not in these boys’ best interests.”
Four Seamands family members were branded at a family friend’s house that day in 2008, two days before Thanksgiving.
Seamands, who testified he had experience branding livestock and had researched doing the procedure on humans, had fashioned the brand from steel and forged the 3-inch-by-3-inch initials “SK,” for “Seamands’ Kids,” on the tip.
He heated it over a propane flame to apply it to his sons and daughter.
He branded his younger boy, then 13, on the upper chest. It was recorded on a family cell phone in a video shown to the jury.
He branded the older boy, then 15, on the left arm.
He branded his daughter, 18, on the calf. Her branding did not lead to charges because she was old enough to consent to it.
Seamands himself was branded that day by his friend.
All four family members testified they wanted to be branded.
Family bonding
The daughter, Paige Davis of Boise, Idaho, testified that getting branded was meant to “bond” the family while her father and mother got divorced.
The children’s mother told police she was “horrified” by what had happened.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Troberg, who prosecuted the case, noted later Friday that the case drew “worldwide media coverage.”
By trying the boys’ father again, “we are just not doing them any good,” he said.
Troberg also said it was impractical to pursue the misdemeanor charge given the original jury’s 6-6 deadlock.
“I don’t have any new evidence or new witnesses that were not presented at the original trial that would make any significant difference,” Troberg said.
“I have no reason to think I wouldn’t get a similar result from another jury. If a jury is hung 10-2 or 11-1 to convict, then you seriously reconsider retrying the case.”
Jury’s decision
The jury was swayed by the boy’s testimony and their belief that assault is a crime committed against someone’s will, jury foreman Arlin Lidstrom told Peninsula Daily News in an interview a few hours after the verdict.
“The jury had difficulty in determining if the father branding the boys was an assault,” he said.
During the trial, Taylor had said that burning could constitute assault.
Dr. Laura Bullen of Peninsula Children’s Clinic had testified that the branding caused second-degree burns on the boys.
Before jury members deliberated, Taylor instructed them that assault is “an intentional touching of another person, with unlawful force, that is harmful or offensive regardless of whether any physical injury is done to that person.”
Taylor said, “A touching is offensive if the touching would offend an ordinary person who is not unduly sensitive.”
He defined fourth-degree assault as: “A person commits the crime of assault in the fourth-degree when he or she commits an assault.”
He defined second-degree assault as when a person “intentionally assaults another and thereby recklessly inflicts substantial bodily harm.”
“Consent,” Taylor said in the instructions, “is not a defense to an assault on a minor child.”
The jury deliberated seven hours before reaching its verdict.
It took about three hours to acquit Seamands of second-degree assault, and four hours to decide they could not reach a verdict on the fourth-degree assault charge, Lidstrom said.
________
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
