Man Sentenced In Boy's Death

TACOMA - A former soldier who admitted to the fatal abuse of his girlfriend's young son has been sentenced to nearly 27 years in prison.

Duane Lee Summers, who last summer pleaded guilty to homicide by abuse in the death of 23-month-old Maxwell Beem, was sentenced yesterday to 26 years and eight months in Pierce County Superior Court.

The sentence was the maximum Judge Vicki Hogan could impose under state guidelines. It's the same sentence given last year to the toddler's mother, Therese Beem, by a different judge.

The boy died of multiple injuries including a perforated intestine, broken ribs and numerous bruises on Nov. 20, 1994.

Deputy Prosecutor Barbara Corey-Boulet said an autopsy showed more than 85 bruises on the child's body - some freshly inflicted, others weeks old.

"Twenty-six years is not enough time for a child that never even got to live his life," said the boy's father, Timothy Beem, speaking by phone from Louisiana, where he lives.

Under a plea bargain, Summers pleaded guilty as charged, and prosecutors agreed not to seek an exceptional sentence in return. Summers has changed lawyers twice and has tried to withdraw that

plea.