Man Pleads Guilty In Homicide-By-Abuse

TACOMA - A 23-year-old former soldier faces at least 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to homicide-by-abuse in the death of his girlfriend's young son last fall.

Duane Lee Summers agonized for nearly two hours in Pierce County Superior Court yesterday before entering his plea in the death of Maxwell Scott Beem.

In return, deputy prosecutor Barbara Corey-Boulet agreed not to seek a sentence longer than the ordinary state maximum - 26 years and eight months - for the crime.

The lowest sentence under state guidelines is 20 years, though Judge Vicki Hogan still could impose a longer term if she found sufficient reasons to do so. Sentencing will be Sept. 19.

Summers was agitated as he reviewed the plea documents. He hesitated as the judge asked whether anyone was forcing him to plead guilty. After speaking at length with his lawyers, Summers said he hadn't been forced to do so.

In the plea, Summers acknowledged he had failed to seek timely medical care for young Beem when he was obviously ill. The plea made no mention that he was responsible for any of the boys' substantial injuries.

The child was six days short of his second birthday when he died Nov. 20. An autopsy found he suffered three broken ribs, as many as 85 bruises, a lacerated left eye and penis and a ruptured intestine.

The child's mother, Terese Ann Beem, pleaded guilty to homicide-by-abuse April 11. She is to be sentenced Tuesday by Superior Court Judge Fred Fleming.

As part of her plea bargain, prosecutors will recommend a mid-range sentence of 23 years and four months. But a state presentence investigator has recommended an exceptional sentence for what he said was deliberate cruelty.