Man Sentenced In Killing Of Federal Way Woman

SEATTLE - A transient guilty of killing a Federal Way woman as she slept has been sentenced to more than 27 years in prison.

Charles Shehane, who also is charged with a slaying in Pierce County, was convicted in January of first-degree murder for the 1994 killing of Arlene Brown. The couple had been romantically involved.

King County Superior Court Judge Robert Alsdorf issued the stiffest sentence within state guidelines yesterday.

Brown was beaten and strangled. Her 7-year-old daughter heard the commotion from her adjoining bedroom and began calling for her mother, but Shehane told the girl Brown was having a bad dream. Shehane surrendered a few days later and told a detective he had lain in bed and thought about killing Brown before clubbing her with a table leg and strangling her. In court, Shehane testified that the killing was impulsive and that he was "set off" when Brown ridiculed him sexually.

Shehane will be tried in Pierce County in the killing of a Federal Way man, whose body was found in 1993 near Greenwater.

Shehane is accused of killing William Kiyoshi Tonoko, who Shehane allegedly thought was carrying $6,500. Tonoko was shot once in the head.