PORT ANGELES — Kevin A. Bradfield has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the 2011 murder of Jennifer Pimentel.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge George L. Wood imposed the sentence in an hourlong court hearing Wednesday.
Bradfield, 23, of Port Angeles entered an Alford plea in January to first-degree premeditated murder for strangling Pimentel on Oct. 9, 2011.
Lawyers for both sides recommended a 20-year sentence as part of the Alford plea, in which Bradfield admitted that there was enough evidence to support a conviction without admitting guilt.
The sentencing range was 20 years on the low end and 26 years, eight months on the high end.
The state Department of Corrections recommended the maximum sentence in a presentencing investigation report that was disputed by the defense.
Wood said he rarely departs from negotiated plea agreements but was compelled to do so because the Bradfield case was disturbing and “particularly troubling.”
Investigators said Bradfield pushed Pimentel down a set of stairs and strangled her with his bare hands as she pleaded for her life in his girlfriend’s Port Angeles apartment.
Wood found that the murder was premeditated and committed without a motive.
Bradfield and the girlfriend, Kendell K. Huether, led authorities to the body in a woody area off Paradise Bay Road near the Hood Canal Bridge 10 days after Pimentel’s disappearance.
“What strikes me about this is there’s an element of cruelty here that cannot be overlooked,” Wood said.
“Jennifer knew she was being killed as her life was being squeezed out of her by Mr. Bradfield. . . . I can’t imagine what Jennifer was going through during this process.”
About two dozen of Pimentel’s family and friends attended the court hearing, many of whom wore purple in tribute of Pimentel’s favorite color.
The 27-year-old developmentally disabled woman was described by friends and family as being well-liked, trusting, caring, kind and loving.
“Mr. Bradfield had no mercy,” said Henry Pimentel, Jennifer’s father, while asking the judge to impose a longer sentence.
“He knew full well what he was doing when he strangled Jennifer.”
Bradfield leaned over a table and looked down as seven victims made emotional statements.
“You took a very precious part of me, and now I ache every day,” said Tonya Bailey, Pimentel’s mother.
“Now all I have is her pictures all over my walls and beautiful memories. I will never be able to touch her again.
“How dare you?” Bailey told Bradfield.
“I will never get her back, and there is no forgiveness in my heart, ever, for you. You and your partner, Kendell, can rot in hell.”
Navier Pimentel said her younger sister was her best friend and that Jennifer “would have given anybody anything.”
Navier asked the court to consider the heinousness of the crime in sentencing Bradfield.
Richard Taylor said he knew something was amiss when his cousin didn’t return to SeaTac by bus after visiting Huether in Port Angeles.
He told Bradfield that killing a developmentally disabled women “don’t make you a man, man.”
“I can’t imagine what my aunt and uncle are going through,” said Taylor, who displayed a tattoo of a Beanie Baby — Pimentel’s favorite stuffed animal — on his arm.
“I wish we could give him more than 26 years.”
Bradfield, who admitted to authorities that he killed Pimentel but has remained silent in court hearings, expressed remorse Wednesday.
“I still can’t believe that I took a life from such a lovely, strong lady, and of all the pain and suffering that I have caused to her family and friends,” Bradfield said while reading from a yellow piece of paper.
“I can only hope and pray that maybe someday they might be able to find it in their heart to forgive me for the wrong that I have done them.”
Bradfield declined to be interviewed for the Department of Corrections’ investigation, which contributed to four delays in his sentencing.
Defense Attorney Loren Oakley of Clallam Public Defender and co-counsel Charlie Commeree filed a formal objection to the presentence investigation, or PSI, report last week.
“The defense believes the PSI has not made any argument to the court to stray from the agreed recommendation for it contains nothing more than conjecture regarding the defendant’s lack of remorse and makes requests not supported by law,” the objection states.
The DOC allegations were based on victim statements.
Oakley and Commeree prefaced their objections by “acknowledging the pain of Ms. Pimentel’s family.”
“Our response to the PSI in no way is to imply that we minimize their suffering,” the court document states.
“However, the law requires that all victims are respected equally, whether they were well-known and loved by their families or if they were unknown, unloved wanderers.”
Meanwhile, Huether, 26, pleaded guilty last month to rendering criminal assistance and was found guilty in a bench trial of two counts of witness tampering in connection with Pimentel’s death.
She has been living in the Port Angeles area on home monitoring and is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
