Jury sentences Opel to life in prison

EVERETT — A Snohomish County jury has spared Barbara Opel’s life, sentencing her to life in prison for bribing a group of teens, including her daughter, to kill her boss two years ago.

The Superior Court jury of five women and seven men deliberated for about seven hours yesterday and today before returning the verdict at about 3:10 p.m. Opel smiled after the verdict was read. “Good Friday shall be known as a day of life for Barbara Opel,” said Pete Mazzone, of of her attorneys, after the verdict.

On April 8, the same jury had found Opel guilty of aggravated first-degree murder for the April 13, 2001, slaying of Jerry Heimann, who had hired the Everett woman as a live-in caregiver for his elderly mother.

The teens involved The five teenagers involved in Jerry Heimann's murder were: Jeffrey Grote, 19: Grote admitted hitting Heimann repeatedly with an aluminum bat. He was 17 at the time. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for a recommended 50-year sentence. He is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday. . Heather Opel, 15: Barbara Opel's oldest daughter was 13 when she allegedly stabbed Heimann and hit him with the same bat Grote used. She was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to 22 years in prison after a stipulated trial, which preserved her right to appeal issues other than her conviction. Marriam Oliver, 16: Oliver, then 14, was Heather Opel's best friend. Police said she stabbed Heimann and struck the final blow to his head with the bat. Barbara Opel promised her skating money for her participation. She was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to 22 years in prison after a stipulated trial. Kyle Boston, 16: Boston, a friend of Grote's, admitted hitting Heimann in the face and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. His cousin, the fifth teen, said that he and Boston, then 14, fled the house while Heimann was still alive and that Boston had received about $220 for his involvement. Boston was sentenced to 18 years in prison Wednesday. Boston's cousin, 15: The Seattle Times is not identifying Boston's cousin because he was treated as a juvenile in the case. He turned 13 just before the killing and told police that he had struck Heimann once with a miniature bat. He said he had received about $100 for his participation and used the money to buy a sweat suit. A judge found him guilty of first- and second-degree murder and sentenced him to confinement until age 21, leaving open the possibility the boy could spend the final year of his sentence in a transitional program.

The jury next had to decide which punishment was appropriate for the crime. Under state law, the only two possible penalties for aggravated first-degree murder is life in prison without parole, or execution.

No woman has ever been sentenced to death in Washington state.

Opel bribed a group of five teens, including her then-13-year-old daughter Heather, to ambush Heimann when he returned home one night. The group beat him with baseball bats and stabbed him with kitchen knives. After the attack, Opel, her three young children and three other teens then drove Heimann’s body to the Tulalip Reservation and left it in a ravine.

Opel and her three children shared the North Everett home with Heimann and his mother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

Testifying during her trial earlier this month, Opel said three teenagers were planning to beat Heimann unconscious while she and her three children hid in the basement of Heimann’s home.

Opel said Heimann berated her family with snide comments and obscene names. She “was tired of living in hell” and thought the 64-year-old deserved a beating.

During her trial Opel denied the prosecution’s claim that she promised the teens a car, cash and passes to a roller skating rink for killing Heimann.

Heather Opel, now 15, Marriam Oliver, 16, Jeffrey Grote, 19, Kyle Boston, 16 and Boston’s 15-year-old cousin, who The Seattle Times is not naming because he was sentenced as a juvenile, have all been convicted for their roles in the slaying. During closing arguments yesterday, Deputy Snohomish County Prosecutor George Appel said Opel’s actions resulted in a “swath of destruction.”

Prosecutors criticized Opel her for lacking remorse and for hiding behind an alleged brain dysfunction, which defense attorneys claimed made her unable to comprehend the consequences of the murder-for-hire plan.

Some of the more than 20 witnesses Opel’s attorneys had testify over the past week have commented on her lack of emotion, her inability to understand directions and her immaturity. Two mental health experts testified that she has brain damage.

Her own sister called Opel a jealous troublemaker and said “Barbara had no respect for anything.”

Brian Phillips, Opel’s attorney, told jurors there is no justification for Heimann’s murder. But, as he had said during his opening statement, Phillips blamed Opel’s actions on her brain disorder.

“This is not a well-planned crime,” Phillips said during his closing argument. “Forget it. This is an absurdly planned crime.”

Given a chance to ask jurors to spare her life on Wednesday, Opel declined. On the stand, Opel vehemently denied the allegation that she wanted Heimann dead so she could dip into the nearly $40,000 he had in the bank. She did admit spending more than $6,000 of his money to pay for clothes, meals and to rent another Everett house after the slaying.

Jurors also found her guilty of second-degree theft and second-degree abandonment for leaving Heimann’s mother, Evelyn, alone in the house. The elderly woman died in at Seattle nursing home in March.

Greg and Teresa Heimann, Heimann’s son and daughter-in-law, said that when they arrived at Heimann’s house for a visit on April 18, 2001, all of the lights were off and the blinds were closed. They were worried because Heimann hadn’t picked them up at the airport so the couple broke into the house.

They found Evelyn Heimann slumped over in her blood-spattered wheelchair. She was severely dehydrated, sitting in soiled diapers and eating the pages from a telephone book and magazine.

The couple spent the next two days searching for Jerry Heimann. On April 20, police notified them that Heimann’s body had been found on the Tulalip Reservation.

Seattle Times Snohomish County reporters Emily Heffter and Rachel Tuinstra contributed to this report.

Jennifer Sullivan: 425-783-0604 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com