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Thursday
August=20 24
2000

Death penalty decision delayed in = Kinkele=20 shooting
Aug 23 = 2000 12:00AM=20 By Jessie Stensland Staff reporter=20

Skagit County prosecutors put off = making a=20 decision on whether to pursue the death penalty against two = of the=20 three Anacortes men believed responsible in the shooting = death of a=20 Whidbey Island Navy junior officer.=20

Prosecutor Tom Verge has called the shotgun shooting a = =93thrill=20 kill.=94 He charged two half-brothers, 36-year-old Eben = Berriault and=20 23-year-old Seth Anderson, with first-degree murder but = hasn=92t=20 decided whether to upgrade the charge to aggravated murder.=20

Aggravated murder carries death or life in prison as the = possible=20 sentences.=20

The hearing on the decision was postponed until Sept. 7.=20

Investigators say that Lt. j.g. Scott Kinkele was on his = way home=20 to Oak Harbor early in the morning of July 28 when a man in = the car=20 behind him fired a slug, which hit Kinkele in the head and = instantly=20 killed him.=20

The police believe that Berriault, Anderson and = 25-year-old Adam=20 Moore were on a drinking and shooting spree on Highway 20 in = Skagit=20 County that ended with Kinkele=92s murder. Investigators say = Berriault=20 was doing the shooting out the window, first hitting a dog, = signs,=20 then a woman=92s car in Sedro-Woolley, and finally killing = Kinkele.=20

Moore, who is cooperating with police, has been charged = with=20 first-degree manslaughter.=20

Kinkele=92s mother, Mary, is pushing prosecutors to seek = the death=20 penalty for Berriault, who has a criminal history that = includes=20 first-degree manslaughter and first-degree robbery = convictions in=20 1983 in Chelan County.=20

She recently appeared on TV news to air her pleas in = public.=20

If convicted of the first-degree murder charge, Berriault = would=20 face a standard sentence range of 46 to 58 years in prison.=20

Anderson, who prosecutors call an accomplice in the = murder, faces=20 a standard sentence of 38 1/2 years to 48 years in prison. = Moore,=20 who prosecutors say did nothing to stop the shootings, faces = a range=20 of six years and six months to eight years and six months in = prison.=20

Berriault and Anderson are being held on $1 million bail. = Moore=92s=20 bail was set at $250,000.=20

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