Man sentenced to 11 years for fatal blow

For many people in the crowded King County courtroom, Friday marked more than just the final judgment for the man who killed retiree James Paroline during an altercation at a South Seattle traffic circle.

To them, Paroline, 60, was not just a Vietnam veteran who lived quietly in the Rainier Beach neighborhood with his dogs. He also was a community leader who was killed while showing the pride he took in his street.

Paroline's friends were joined by Senior Deputy Prosecutor John Castleton and even Superior Court Judge William Downing in praising the slain man for taking it upon himself to improve his street by tending to the traffic circle just steps from his front door.

Brian Keith Brown, 29, the man who killed Paroline on July 9 with a single, brutal punch, bowed his head. Moments later, Downing sentenced him to slightly more than 11 years and three months in prison for second-degree murder.

"I never intended to cause this," Brown said. "This is something I have relived every day since the incident and will relive for the rest of my life."

Brown, who has prior convictions for assault, drug possession, trespassing and driving with a suspended license, pleaded guilty to the murder charge in March.

The July 9 confrontation began while Paroline was watering plants in the traffic circle, where he set cones on the street to protect his watering hose. Instead of driving around the cones, a group of girls got out of a car and two of them yelled at Paroline.

The girls said Paroline squirted them with water, but there are questions about whether that really happened.

One of the girls summoned Brown, who was driven to the scene. He hit Paroline once and walked away.

A cellphone video played in court Friday showed Brown walking up to Paroline and delivering a single punch. Paroline dropped, his head striking the pavement.

After the attack, Brown was on the run for about a week. With the help of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Brown turned himself in. At the time, Brown's mother, Brenda Battiste, of Sacramento, Calif., expressed concern that the incident had been painted as racially motivated by many in the community.

Brown is black, and Paroline was white.

The killing outraged neighbors, who held a vigil and crowded into a community meeting with police.

Attorney James Bible, president of the Seattle NAACP chapter, testified on Brown's behalf Friday. He asked for leniency because Brown had a tough upbringing, which Brown's mother also testified to.

Defense attorney Ramona Brandes sought a sentence of seven to eight years.

"He's not the Godfather, he's not an assassin," Brandes said in court. "He was acting in reaction to a perceived harm to others."

After watching the video of the attack, Judge Downing said there was nothing to indicate self-defense. He called it "heartbreaking" to "be killed while doing something as peaceful as gardening."

Hans Aschenbach, a friend of Paroline's for 20 years, said the video proved Brown deserved a long sentence.

"The video [of the attack] is shocking and was really an execution with a fist," Aschenbach said after the sentencing hearing.

Paroline, a retired mortgage broker, had lobbied for the traffic circle, which was installed at 61st Avenue South and South Cooper Street in 2005.

Brown's crime qualified as felony murder because it happened during the commission of second-degree assault, a felony. The recommended sentence of nearly 11 ½ years was less than the standard range: 12 years and eight months to 21 years.

Prosecutors said their recommended sentence matched the high end of the range for manslaughter, a lesser charge. The case is akin to manslaughter because it involved a reckless — rather than deliberate — fatal act by Brown, they say.

But because of a new quirk in state law, felony murder is easier to prove. Had prosecutors charged Brown with manslaughter, they would have needed to prove that Brown knew one punch could cause death, Castleton explained in court.

The girls whose confrontation with Paroline preceded the attack were not charged with a crime. There is no "accessory" law in Washington state that is relevant in this case, according to the prosecutor's office. To be considered accomplices, the girls would have to have assisted Brown in the assault.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com

Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.