Hazelton argues that the case should be resentenced because O’Rourke failed to provide the judge “mitigation evidence” that gave insight into Marquez’s state of mind at the time of the incident.
The day of the murder, Marquez and Adamson, ages 16 and 21, were camping with their 14-year-old sister, their cousin and their cousin’s girlfriend. After they’d all consumed a “significant amount of alcohol,” their sister was pushed into disclosing that Eastman had allegedly raped her 10 days prior.
“Within a matter of hours, (Eastman) was dead,” according to court documents.
“Because (the sister)’s report of rape to Benny and Jonny was the catalyst for the sequence of events that unfolded, it was critical that the sentencing judge understand such a report was not a haphazard drunken malignment of (Eastman) that spurred action, but a shameful secret unearthed from hiding that, when revealed, was indisputably felt and understood as real harm that happened to (the sister),” said Hazelton in court documents.
odysseyportal.courts.wa.gov
