Man given 25-year term for killing ex-roommate

Family and friends of Samuel Kenneth Raught sobbed, screamed and shook with anger yesterday as they spoke to the man who admitted killing the beloved University District haircutter last year.

"You're going to know hell," brother Ray Raught said with clenched fists in King County Superior Court in Seattle.

"I hope you hear Sammy's screams every night," said Michelle Raught, the victim's sister.

When Judge Steven Scott sentenced Meschak Moondance Lefcourt to 25 years in prison for first-degree murder, the maximum within state standards, several family members cheered and pumped their fists. Lefcourt pleaded guilty in June to the November 2002 slaying of Raught, 30, his former roommate.

Lefcourt stabbed Raught several times and left his body propped in a chair to be found by other friends, prosecutors said.

Lefcourt had stolen money and drugs from Raught when he moved out of the apartment the two had shared, court papers said. But Raught had forgiven Lefcourt and was willing to try to patch up the friendship, his friends said.

Lefcourt, 26, and a friend, Christina M. Rogers, fled the state with a backpack full of money. Using disguises including a turban and an Islamic burqa, they hopped a bus to Minnesota. Police in Minneapolis arrested the pair at a Greyhound bus station in December.

Rogers was sentenced to a year in jail earlier this year after pleading guilty to rendering criminal assistance.

During yesterday's emotional court hearing, Lefcourt's mother cried as she apologized to Raught's family. She said she believed the slaying would never have happened had it not been for her son's drug addictions. He had been taking drugs since his early teens, she said. But she also said that was no excuse.

In asking for the tough sentence, Deputy Prosecutor Tim Bradshaw said that he had seen few murder victims in his career who had the love and loyalty of friends and family that Raught had.

Lefcourt, 26, behaved "like a vulture" when he killed Raught, then stole from him and fled, Bradshaw said.

After the sentencing, courthouse guards were careful to make sure the two families left separately.

As Lefcourt was led off to jail, one of Raught's brothers yelled out that Lefcourt was lucky he, the brother, couldn't reach him. "Sammy just had the best heart in the world. That's what makes this so hard," Michelle Raught said.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com