Sentencing delayed in strangulation case

PORT ANGELES — The sentencing of Kevin A. Bradfield for murdering 27-year-old Jennifer D. Pimentel was delayed Thursday for the fourth time.

Clallam County Superior Court Judge George L. Wood did not set a new date for sentencing Bradfield, 23, of Port Angeles for first-degree murder in Pimentel’s strangulation.

Sentencing was first scheduled for March 5, two months after Bradfield entered an Alford plea to the charge.

In an Alford plea, a defendant concedes there is enough evidence to support a finding of guilt but does not admit to being guilty of a crime.

Instead of a sentencing date, Wood set a May 9 hearing date to review objections by Bradfield’s lawyer, Loren Oakley of Clallam Public Defender, over a state Department of Corrections sentencing recommendation that Bradfield serve 26 years, six months in prison.

It is 80 months longer than the 20 years agreed to by Oakley and the county Prosecuting Attorney’s Office when Bradfield entered his plea.

But it is not as long as the life sentence that Pimentel’s father, Henry Pimentel, said Thursday he wants imposed.

“I knew the pre-sentence investigation would take time,” he said in a telephone interview.

“No matter what happens with Kevin, it’s not going to bring Jennifer back,” he said.

“Kevin is going to get his due, whatever that is.”

Pimentel is not ready to forgive Bradfield, who was friends with his daughter.

“I will forgive him, but not at this time,” Pimentel said.

Bradfield pleaded guilty Jan. 16 under an Alford plea to first-degree premeditated murder in connection with Jennifer Pimentel’s October 2011 death.

Pimentel, who was developmentally disabled, was killed at the apartment of Bradfield’s girlfriend, Kendell K. Huether, 26, investigators said.

All three were friends, according to court documents.

Huether pleaded guilty Monday to rendering criminal assistance and was found guilty in a bench trial Wednesday of two counts of tampering with a witness in connection with the death of Pimentel, who was developmentally disabled.

Huether, who watched as Bradfield killed Pimentel and then helped him dispose of the body in a wooded area near Hood Canal, will be sentenced at 9 a.m. May 15 in Superior Court.

It may take at least two more court sessions before Bradfield is sentenced, Wood indicated.

He asked Oakley to highlight sections of the Department of Corrections’ pre-sentence report, which the judge will review at 9 a.m. May 9.

That will be followed by another hearing on the report, Wood said.

“This being first-degree, premeditated murder, the court wants to hear anything that’s relevant,” Wood said.

“I need to know exactly what it is [Oakley] is contesting so I can make a determination that these are things I want to hear about,” he said.

“We will determine the types of evidence we can use, then we’ll have an evidentiary hearing, if that is required, on those issues.”

In his three-page motion to continue Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Oakley said he and the county Prosecuting Attorney’s Office had agreed to the bottom of the sentencing range of 20 years in prison followed by three years of community custody.

DOC’s recommendation of 320 months was at the top of the range and 80 more months than the sentence agreed to by Oakley and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

The pre-sentence investigation report, which was not available Thursday, says that Bradfield’s “cognitive deficits. . . have little or no bearing on one’s ability to feel remorse,” according to the report, Oakley said in his motion.

“DOC based its recommendation on the victim’s alleged vulnerability, the defendant’s telling others he planned to drug and rape the victim or that he planned to kill her, the defendant’s taking an extended period of time to kill the victim, the defendant’s displaying extreme indifference after killing the victim, the defendant’s not expressing remorse and the victim’s having a reasonable expectation of safety in the place where she was killed,” Oakley said.

“The defense disputes these allegations,” he said.

Oakley wants Dr. John Lloyd, an expert witness who has conducted a forensic psychological evaluation on Bradfield, to be hired to testify regarding Bradfield’s mental state, cognitive deficits “and ability to feel or express remorse to rebut the [pre-sentence investigation’s] allegations and recommendations,” Oakley said in his motion.

Department of Corrections spokesman Chad Lewis said Thursday that it is not unusual for the agency to recommend a higher sentence than what is agreed to by prosecuting attorney and a guilty party’s lawyer.

“It’s actually fairly common,” Lewis said.

Bradfield initially was incarcerated on a charge of second-degree murder until a corrections officer intercepted a letter that indicated he “planned to murder Pimentel to prevent her from accusing Bradfield of rape.”

Bradfield remains in the Clallam County jail on $1 million bail.

After her court hearing Wednesday, Huether remained on electronic home monitoring.

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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.