Murderer's Term Cut By Order Of Higher Court

A Seattle parolee who fatally stabbed a North Seattle woman and set fire to her home in 1989 today had his 75-year sentence cut in half because an appeals court ruled the killing did not involve "deliberate cruelty."

King County Superior Court Judge Liem Tuai, directed by the state Court of Appeals, reduced Rick Thomas Gossman's first-degree-murder sentence to 34 years and 8 months, the maximum provided by the state's 1984 Sentencing Reform Act.

Gossman, 34, was convicted in 1990 of stabbing real-estate agent Joy Claybrook Smith up to 12 times, slitting her throat and plunging a knife repeatedly into her abdomen. He later returned to her Palatine Avenue North home and set it ablaze.

In court today, the victim's mother, Lee McPeak, said she was outraged by the appeals court's decision. "What kind of people are they to make such a drastic judgment?" she demanded.

McPeak said evidence at Gossman's trial showed "He slowly stabbed her and tortured her unmercifully . . . she fought valiantly and suffered terribly."

Occasionally glancing toward Gossman, McPeak called the convicted killer "a dangerous sociopath who kills lightly and easily without remorse."

Tuai, who presided over Gossman's trial, had ordered the 75-year sentence, saying he intended to keep Gossman behind bars the rest of his life. Although the sentence was twice the standard penalty for first-degree murder, Tuai said he believed the cruelty involved in the multiple stabbing warranted a long sentence.

The Court of Appeals, ruling in May, disagreed. The three-judge appeals panel said, "Gossman's act of stabbing the victim 12 times is not unusual for a murder committed with a knife."

The court said all of the stab wounds were apparently inflicted to kill the victim, not to torture her or inflict "gratuitous violence." The appeals court sent the case back to Tuai, directing him to set a sentence within the state guidelines.

Gossman and Smith had known each other for several weeks, after meeting in a tavern where they played pool.

At the time of the killing, Gossman was on parole in connection with kidnapping and robbery convictions in Grays Harbor County.

In addition to the murder sentence, Tuai also sentenced Gossman today to a concurrent sentence of 5 years and 1 month for first-degree arson and a consecutive sentencing of 10 1/2 months for attempting to escape while awaiting trial.