Boy Enters Guilty Plea In Death On Tracks -- Transient First Was Beaten Unconscious

EVERETT - A homeless youth who helped place an unconscious man in the path of a train has pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter.

Aaron Beymer, 17, entered his plea yesterday in Snohomish County Superior Court, acknowledging he recklessly caused the death of 38-year-old Ernest Sena, a transient who died Dec. 23 after being beaten, then run over by the train.

Minutes before facing Judge Gerald Knight, Beymer sat next to his lawyer, biting his lip and studying plea paperwork.

Prosecutors initially charged Beymer and another transient, Dale Schwab, 27, with second-degree murder. In pleading guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, Beymer agreed to testify against Schwab during his upcoming trial. As a result, he's likely to spend about half as long in prison.

Beymer's attorney, Max Harrison, said he was gratified by the plea agreement.

"He is a client that's truly remorseful," Harrison said of Beymer.

Beymer, who has two juvenile convictions, had been living on the streets since leaving his Marysville home at age 13, Harrison said.

Prosecutors allege Beymer and Schwab beat up Sena under the Broadway overpass, a popular shelter for homeless men where the two defendants had been living. Sena's last known address was the Everett Gospel Mission.

Beymer and Schwab struck and kicked Sena, the charging papers allege. After beating him unconscious, the pair wrapped Sena in a piece of carpet, then lay him across the railroad tracks.

Authorities think Sena was hit by a train traveling east through Everett about 6 a.m. His remains were found about noon.

In an affidavit of probable cause, Deputy Prosecutor Craig Matheson states that Beymer and Schwab fought with Sena after finding him under the overpass in Beymer's spot, sleeping on his gear. The fight escalated when Sena threatened Beymer's dog, the document says.

Harrison said the fight broke out after all three had been drinking heavily and Sena failed to produce marijuana after telling the other two he had some.

"I think it was just a very irrational act," Harrison said, describing the killing. "All three of them were so drunk and probably high on drugs of one sort or another."

Matheson said he plans to recommend that Beymer be sentenced to more than eight years in prison, the usual maximum for first-degree manslaughter. Had he been convicted of second-degree murder, the standard range is about 10 to more than 18 years.

Schwab is scheduled to go to trial July 10. Beymer's sentencing is set for late August.