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Sumner man found guilty of manslaughter
By Anelia K. Dimitrova
8/8/2009 12:00:00 AM
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Juanita Prideaux shows a photo of her grandson, Raymond Randall, who was killed on Aug. 3, 2008. On the final day of the trial, Randall's family wore T-shirts memorializing his life.
Below, Randall's brother, Phillip Hamby, listens to the verdict as the defendant's grandparents, Dorothy and Bill Pettit, react.
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Sebastian Trimble,17, is guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of Raymond Randall on Aug.4, 2008, a lesser offense than the first-degree murder conviction the prosecution had hoped to secure, a jury decided Thursday.
Upon conviction, voluntary manslaughter, a Class C felony, carries a maximum sentence of 10 years behind bars while first-degree murder, a Class A felony, is punishable by life imprisonment. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 28 at 9:30 a.m.
A wave of gasps and subdued sobs wafted through the Bremer County Courtroom in the afternoon as the court attendant read the unanimous verdict.
The tension, palpable throughout the trial, had peaked as both sides awaited the jury to return a favorable decision.
After only four hours of deliberations, the three women and nine men of the jury agreed with the defense that while Sebastian Trimble delivered the fatal stab with a “sudden, violent and irresistible passion with serious provocation," he did so without premeditation.
The jury did not buy the prosecution’s theory of premeditated murder, summed up forcefully and eloquently by County Attorney Kasey Wadding during the trial and in closing arguments.
Five sheriff’s deputies, a jailer and at least three police officers provided security and ensured that the families of the defendant and the victim sat in separate areas in the packed courtroom. The stakes were high for both sides, said Bremer County Sheriff Dewey Hildebrandt, explaining the beefed up law enforcement presence.
“Younger people don’t know how to control their emotions as well as older people do,” he said.
Flanked by his counsel, Trimble breathed a sigh of relief as the verdict was read and his lawyers, Melissa Anderson-Seeber and Tim Baldwin patted him on the back.
The victim’s family, all dressed in white T-shirts memorializing their loved one, held hands in anticipation of the jury’s final word, and Juanita Prideaux, Randall’s grandmother, clasped a leather-bound bible with her grandson’s picture inside.
On the fatal evening, Trimble told his mother, Linda Hackman, that he would be playing video games. But instead, he went to a house in Sumner where he brutally beat up Zachary Moran. After that fight was over, Raymond Randall, 18, Moran’s housemate, approached Trimble holding a knife.
The altercation ended in Randall’s death.
It was up to the jury to determine whether the stabbing was an act of self-defense or an act of deliberate, willful and premeditated murder.
Defense counsel Anderson-Seeber argued that her client feared for his life and told the jury that Moran’s beating should not impact their decision.
“Right or wrong, it was going to be a fistfight,” Anderson-Seeber said. “Raymond changed the dynamics of that night by bringing a knife.”
On Thursday, Wadding made an hour-long, impassioned argument, reinforcing witnesses’ testimony and showing, as he did throughout the trial, graphic photos of the victim’s body. To impress his point on the jurors, he held up the shirt Randall wore on Aug. 3 and the knife that killed him.
Trimble did not fear for his life, Wadding said
“There’s not a mark on the defendant.”
Trimble had opportunities to end the incident, Wadding said, but chose not to.
“The defendant is controlling this incident,” Wadding added. “It doesn’t end, it discontinues.”
In her half-hour summation, Anderson-Seeber said the events of the fatal night in 2008 were a tragedy of errors that resulted in Randall’s death, and that her client's three separate statements to officers showed his state of mind.
“He reacted like any reasonable person would have done,” Anderson-Seeber said. “He believed Raymond was going to use the knife.”
Tony Nelson, the boyfriend of Trimble’s mother, Linda Hackman, said the verdict was a victory for their family.
“This is what we thought was going to happen,” Nelson said. “We’re deeply sorry for the other family involved… This is what we were hoping for, this is a win. A whole year of being scared. We kept positive and Tim and Melissa [lawyers], they are the reason why. They told us they would win the case and they did.”
Trimble’s sister Alexis, 16, was elated as she left the courtroom.
“It could have been worse,” she said, adding she looks forward to seeing her brother. “I was the one to give him his last hug, so I want to be the one to give him the first one.”
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