Man gets 40 years in prison

An Evergreen man convicted of killing a woman and then turning the shotgun on himself after they signed an apparent suicide pact was sentenced to 40 years in prison, the maximum sentence for his crime.

Kenton Weimer, 19, will not be eligible for parole until he completes 20 years of his prison term, District Court Judge Ted O. Lympus ruled Thursday. Lympus also ordered Weimer to pay more than $10,000 in restitution.

Weimer pleaded guilty in November to mitigated deliberate homicide for causing the May 1 death of Tarisia Caron, 18, also of Evergreen.

"This has been just devastating," said Sherri Caron, testifying to the impact her daughter's death has had on their family.

"I'm angry with you more than anything because I had let you into my home and I thought you were an OK person," she said, adding that she doesn't blame Weimer alone for Tarisia's death, but also their group of disaffected friends and the society that made them that way.

"I can forgive you for what you've done," she said just before exhorting Weimer to do something better with his life after getting out of prison.

Defense attorney Thane Johnson stressed that the whole event was an "absolute tragedy" as he petitioned the court for leniency.

Alcohol consumption and a poor home environment contributed to the shooting, Johnson said.

The defense played recordings of phone messages Caron and Weimer left for friends minutes before the shooting. In one of them, an intoxicated Weimer is heard saying he can't go through with it as Caron laughed in the background. In another, Caron tells a friend she gave Weimer permission to shoot her.

Johnson, who recommended the court impose a 40-year prison sentence with 20 years suspended and no restrictions on parole, then read a statement Weimer prepared.

"All I can do is express my deepest sorrows and tell everyone I'm truly sorry," the statement read. "I truly did love Tarisia and I miss her as much as anybody… I'd trade my life for hers if I could."

Weimer's mother also took the stand, telling the court her son isn't a violent person.

"He's remorseful because he tells me he's sorry for what happened all the time," Sharon Weimer said.

Prosecutors responded by suggesting Caron's apparent suicide wish was a call for help, not an excuse for Weimer to kill her. Killing someone, even if the killer has the victim's permission, is still illegal, they said, without ever explicitly conceding Weimer did have Caron's permission.

In handing down the sentence recommended by prosecutors, Lympus referenced an instant message found on Weimer's computer - which said if there was one person Weimer could kill with no consequences that person would be Caron - and graffiti scrawled in Weimer's room - which said if Weimer could turn back time he would kill Caron again. Lympus agreed that the whole situation was tragic.

"Nevertheless, it is a tragedy for which the defendant has to be held accountable," he said.

Caron was killed early on the morning of May 1 by a shotgun wound to her head. Weimer, then 18, then allegedly shot himself in the head with the same 12-gauge shotgun, but ended up with serious injuries to his jaw and lower part of his face.

Deputies said the shooting occurred just before 4:17 a.m. in the Meadow Manor Mobile Home Park on Shady Lane. Another Meadow Manor resident phoned 911 to report hearing two gunshots, but could not positively identify where they originated.

Officers responded but could not find anything before leaving the scene about 10 minutes later.

At 4:49 a.m. dispatchers received a second call from someone unable to speak, who turned out to be Weimer. By using a system of tapping to answer the dispatcher's questions, he directed emergency responders to the home.

The two young people, who family members said had been dating off-and-on for about six months, reportedly had made enough noise to waken people inside the house sometime around 3 a.m.

Weimer was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle hours after authorities found him next to Caron's body in the yard of the home he shared with his father, Rick Weimer, and Vicki Gunderson. He returned to the Flathead County Detention Center in September to face murder charges.

While in Seattle for medical treatment, Weimer remained either under guard in the hospital undergoing a series of surgeries or in the King County jail.

Because the Flathead County Sheriff's Office is responsible for the health care needs of its prisoners, Flathead County taxpayers could have been stuck with the bill for Weimer's extensive hospital stay and multiple surgeries.

The sheriff's office annual budget for prisoner medical care is $300,000. Paying for Weimer's medical expenses would have wiped that out, authorities said. However, Weimer's medical bills will ultimately be covered by his father's health insurance.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com