Slayer In Fremont Restaurant Gets No-Parole Life Sentence

An Everett man who had been paroled from a Louisiana prison barely a month before he killed a Lake Union businessman will spend the rest of his life in prison.

King County Superior Court Judge Joan DuBuque formally sentenced Joseph Casbon, 41, to a life sentence with no chance for parole yesterday for his role in the apparent murder-for-hire pact.

Casbon was convicted in October of aggravated murder in the shooting of David Tippett, owner of Tippett Marine Services, as he ate lunch in a crowded Fremont restaurant April 14.

Prosecutor Norm Maleng declined to seek the death penalty, so the conviction carried an automatic life term.

A key witness at his trial testified that Casbon claimed he killed Tippett for about $10,000.

Prosecutors said in court they believe Casbon was hired by one of Tippett's former business associates, Michael N. Lindquist, who had been fired by Tippett and felt he had been cheated out of owning a portion of the business.

Lindquist has not been charged but is still the focus of an intense police investigation.

Casbon told the judge yesterday he did not kill Tippett and barely knew Lindquist.

"I have met this man twice and he has not offered me anything to kill anyone," Casbon said.

Tippett, 46, was a flamboyant and successful businessman who in a few years transformed a one-man business to a highly successful operation.

His widow, Mary, stared at Casbon while addressing the judge and told him life in prison is the least he could expect.

"There is no going back for you," she said. "Your life is gone."

Tippett's murder was carried out before about 40 horrified customers at the Fremont Dock restaurant. Witnesses said Casbon first approached Tippett's table and asked for a job. He then left, but returned minutes later and shot Tippett in the back of the head.

Tippett was meeting with a financial adviser to chart investments for his infant son when he was killed.

A woman who operates a coffee stand across from Tippett Marine Services said she saw Casbon watching the company's exit shortly before lunchtime that day.

Tippett was a regular at the restaurant, and prosecutors say Casbon was stalking him.

Casbon had served 16 years of a life sentence in Louisiana before being paroled and moving to Everett to live with his brother.

Casbon's brother, Gernard, is being held in Snohomish County Jail after being charged with intimidating a witness who testified in the murder trial.