Murderer Sentenced -- Everett Woman Killed Estranged Husband

TERESA GAETHE-LEONARD was sentenced to 30 years in the murder of Chuck Leonard. Her lawyers had argued that she snapped when she thought that he was molesting her daughter and was insane at the time of the murder.

EVERETT - A woman who drove to the Lake Goodwin home of her estranged husband and fatally shot him as he slept was sentenced yesterday to 30 years in prison.

Teresa Gaethe-Leonard, 35, wept periodically but never spoke during her three-week trial in September for the murder of Chuck Leonard, 53, an Everett middle-school counselor.

But after asking guards to remove her handcuffs yesterday, she walked shackled to the front of the courtroom and, flanked by her two defense attorneys, made an emotional address to a packed audience:

"I wrote this probably 55 times trying to make it short so you would listen," she began, growing more upset as she continued. "A mother's basic instinct is to protect her child, which was my motivating action (for the murder). . . .

"Punky," she said, referring to her daughter, "I kept my promise to you that you would not suffer through a family life like my own."

Gaethe-Leonard's lawyers never disputed their client shot Leonard on Feb. 20, 1997, but mounted an insanity and diminished capacity defense. A psychiatrist testified that Gaethe-Leonard, a victim of sexual abuse as a child, snapped when she became convinced that Leonard was molesting their daughter.

She drove to Leonard's home during the pre-dawn hours to confront him and didn't appear to remember the shooting, the expert said.

Prosecutors, however, argued the slaying was premeditated and rehearsed.

They said Gaethe-Leonard killed her husband so she could join her wealthy boyfriend in Hawaii, taking her daughter with her. Later, after her lover posted $500,000 bail, she fled to Puerto Rico, where she was apprehended.

A jury took just three hours to find Gaethe-Leonard guilty of first-degree murder and bail jumping.

Minutes after Gaethe-Leonard spoke, Superior Court Judge Gerald Knight, who presided during the trial, made a frank assessment: "I do not believe that Mr. Leonard abused his daughter."

And no matter what Gaethe-Leonard believed, Knight said, her decision to act as "judge, jury and executioner" had tragic consequences, leaving her child an orphan without either parent.

Knight sentenced Gaethe-Leonard to the middle of the standard sentencing range of 26 years to nearly 34 years.

Deputy Prosecutor Michael Downes had asked for the high end of the range, arguing the slaying was a calculated, execution-style killing done out of selfishness and greed.

But Gaethe-Leonard's lead attorney, John Henry Browne, asked for a 25-year sentence. Truth, Browne said, generally lies "between the extremes."

It was Leonard's behavior that destroyed the couple's marriage, he said. The verdict meant only that the defense hadn't met its burden of proof, not that jurors necessarily believed the prosecution's theory, Browne added.

The victim's younger sister, Theresa Ann Leonard, who has custody of the couple's daughter, told the court yesterday what an enormous affect her brother's death has had on his family.

Explaining the tragedy to her niece, who turns seven next month and is grieving the loss of both her father and mother, has been particularly difficult, the Portland woman said.

"Chuck was many things to many people," she said. "He drove fast, played hard and loved many. No doubt he loved blondes. . . . He never pulled any punches with kids. He was direct and honest with them. He loved (his daughter) without reservation."