Convicted Murderer is Reviled During Sentencing Phase of Trial
The Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) - A man who shot a King County sheriff’s deputy to death, reviled by his victim’s relatives as a “scum-sucking crackhead” and “coward,” has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Aside from comments by relatives of the late Richard Herzog, the sentencing of Ronald Keith Matthews Sr. on Thursday in Superior Court was a formality.
The only other penalty for aggravated first-degree murder is execution, which prosecutors did not seek because of Matthews’ history of mental illness.
Matthews, 47, was convicted last month of killing Herzog, 46, a married father of two and seven-year veteran of the sheriff’s department who responded to a report of a naked man screaming and running through traffic in suburban Newcastle.
“This son of a bitch Matthews took everything from me and my family, but he can never take away my love for Richard and Richard’s love for me,” said the deputy’s wife, SunCha Herzog, between tears.
“Rot in hell, you scum-sucking crackhead,” said Herzog’s sister, Jeanne Parker.
Testimony showed Matthews, a father of two teenage boys, was high on crack cocaine when he grabbed Herzog’s gun during a struggle and shot the deputy once in the hip and four times in the back of the head on June 22, 2002.
During a five-week trial his lawyers argued unsuccessfully that he should be found insane and hospitalized, saying he was in a psychotic state because he had taken the wrong medication for his bipolar disorder and believed the apocalypse was approaching. Prosecutors countered that Herzog came unhinged because he deliberately took cocaine.
“He is a coward,” brother Karl Herzog said. “There can be no parole for this coward. There is no excuse for this coward.”
After hearing from Herzog’s relatives and a law enforcement colleague, Matthews apologized, his hands shaking as he read from a piece of paper.
“Words can’t express the sorrow I have for taking your loved one from you,” he said. “Though I know there’s nothing I can say to ease the pain ... or the anger you have toward me...
“He was a good and innocent man upholding the law, and I deserve to be punished.”