Boy, 17, Gets 30 Years In Fatal Attack

EVERETT - A 17-year-old boy has been sentenced to 30 years in prison in the 1994 killing of one man and the beating of another.

John Lal of Everett and three other young men attacked and killed Michael Killpack, 21, on June 17, 1994, at Scriber Lake Park in Lynnwood.

Killpack, of Everett, died after being beaten and shot. A second victim, Michael Conner of Mukilteo, who was 24 at the time of the attack, suffered head injuries when he was hit with a baseball bat.

Yesterday, Conner told Judge Joseph Thibodeau of Snohomish County Superior Court that he believed Lal and his accomplices planned the robbery and beating, and that they should face harsh consequences.

"It wasn't accidental. It was very planned out," Conner said. "I do not feel anybody is sorry for what happened that night. To this day, I don't know why they spared me. They must have figured the baseball-bat blow I took to the head was substantial enough."

Conner has steel plates in his head and suffers constant headaches, and neck and back pain, he told the court.

Dave Hiltner, a Snohomish County deputy prosecutor, had recommended Lal serve a longer sentence - 34 years, four months - for his part in the crime.

"The defendant showed a total disregard for human life. . . . This individual deserves no breaks, based on what I've seen," Hiltner told the judge.

Lal, Niguel Jones and two other young men asked Killpack and Conner to come to the park that night on the pretense of buying drugs. Instead, the group ambushed the two victims. Lal hit Conner on the head with the bat, and Jones shot and killed Killpack.

Lal, who was tried as an adult because of the seriousness of his crime, was convicted June 15 of first-degree murder and first-degree assault. He was the last member of the group to be sentenced and the only one to stand trial.

Jones, 19, pleaded guilty in October to charges of first-degree murder and first-degree assault. He was sentenced Dec. 19 to 28 years, four months in prison.

Aaron Davis, 22, and William Pursley, 16, both pleaded guilty to charges of second-degree murder and first-degree assault. Pursley was sentenced Aug. 4 to 22 years, four months; and Davis was sentenced Aug. 7 to 24 years in prison.

At Lal's sentencing yesterday, Thibodeau declined to accept the prosecutor's recommended sentence of more than 34 years. Instead, the judge gave Lal 30 years in prison, at the low end of the sentencing range, which was 29 years, nine months to 38 years, 11 months.

Thibodeau said he was comfortable with the sentence because it was approximately equal to the sentence received by Jones, the gunman.