Father Sentenced For Son's `Living Hell'

Father sentenced for son's `living hell'

A King County judge has called the life and death of 3-year-old Kevin Hoffman ``a living hell'' and sentenced his father to 10 years in prison for beating the boy to death in 1988.

Superior Court Judge Susan Agid's punishment for Thaddeus Hoffman, 22, of Auburn, yesterday was the maximum she could give on a first-degree manslaughter conviction.

But Agid was sharply critical of prosecutors for being so lenient with Hoffman's live-in girlfriend, Heidi Hendricksen. Several jurors also had written that they were upset that Hendricksen, who was not the boy's mother, did not bear more of the blame.

Deputy Prosecutor Jeanne Tweten had contended that Hoffman beat the boy fatally after finding he had bitten Hendricksen.

Hendricksen entered a guilty plea to a charge of second-degree manslaughter, and served several months in jail, as part of a plea bargain in which she agreed to testify against Hoffman.

Tweten said it would have been impossible to convict Hoffman without Hendricksen's testimony.

Hoffman had already served about two years in prison for assaulting Kevin. The boy died two days after receiving six blows to his head at Hoffman's Auburn apartment.

Agid said she believed Kevin had been beaten over a period of weeks and that both of the adults killed the boy.