TACOMA -- A woman who participated in the murder of a homeless man by a white-supremacist group has been sentenced to 13 years and nine months in prison for second-degree murder.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Lisa Worswick heard hours of testimony Thursday about Tristain Lynn Frye's tragic childhood, insecurities, lack of racism and changes she had gone through in jail.
Worswick called the 23-year-old Frye "one of the most remorseful and mature" defendants she had ever seen. However, she rejected defense lawyers' pleas for a short sentence and imposed a term at the low end of the standard sentencing range.
The judge agreed to the sentence requested by Jerry Costello, chief criminal deputy prosecutor. He said the charge against Frye had already been reduced from aggravated first-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence.
Investigators said the killing of Randall Townsend March 23, 2003, was intended to be a white supremacist gang initiation for Frye. The group decided to attack Townsend, although he was white, because the group could not find someone of color to attack.
