After Hearing Victim's Hymns, Judge Gives Killer 26 Years

SEATTLE - After listening to a tape recording of a murder victim singing hymns shortly before she died, a King County Superior Court judge ordered the harshest possible standard prison term for her killer.

The sentence means Eric Hayden, 32, is to serve more than 26 years for the murder of Dawn Fehring, who was found dead last Mother's Day in a Kirkland condominium.

Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney James Konat had asked for an exceptional sentence of more than 41 years.

But Judge Marilyn Sellers said there was no evidence to justify such a sentence.

The sentence was imposed Friday after Dotty Fehring, Dawn's mother, showed a photograph of her from a Mother's Day card and played a recording of Dawn singing such hymns as, "I've Been Blessed."

According to testimony, Dawn Fehring was raped in her bedroom and strangled. She'd been baking cookies for Mother's Day when she died, Konat said.