Judge gives Sherer 60 years in prison

The judge who sentenced Steven Sherer to 60 years in prison yesterday for murdering his wife a decade ago said Sherer should be locked up forever so he can never hurt other women.

"Mr. Sherer's conduct in terms of assault and violent behavior, in fact, has been chronic and has known no boundaries," King County Superior Court Judge Anthony Wartnik said.

"I have great fear for not only other women who might get involved with Mr. Sherer, but for the witnesses and the public's safety."

Sherer, dressed in red jail overalls, his hair slicked back above his frown, remained polite but unwavering yesterday as the judge delivered the sentence for first-degree murder to a packed courtroom in Seattle.

"I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, a lot of errors, a lot of bad judgments, and I've lived a life that maybe wasn't correct," he said.

"But I'm not a murderer."

Wartnik's exceptionally long sentence exceeded even the prosecutors' urgings to send Sherer to prison for 55 years for the Sept. 30, 1990, slaying of his 26-year-old wife, Jami, in Redmond.

Even with time off for good behavior and the six months he has already been in jail, Sherer, 38, would be 89 when released.

"It wouldn't break my heart if he went away for the rest of his life," Deputy Prosecutor Hank Corscadden said after the sentence was imposed.

"He's an incredibly dangerous man. The guy has a hair trigger. Violence for him is just another tool in his bag."

Prosecutors convinced a jury in June that a mountain of circumstantial evidence showed Sherer killed his wife, though her body has never been found.

Sherer's lawyers argued that the evidence was weak and said another man who allegedly was having an affair with Jami Sherer was a more likely suspect. Sherer has hired a lawyer to appeal the case.

But yesterday, Wartnik said Sherer's continual protestations of innocence were a "bold-faced denial in light of the very compelling circumstantial evidence that only one person had the motive to kill Jami Sherer."

Sherer's lawyer, Peter Mair, had hoped to convince the judge that despite the public interest in the case, the murder was no worse than thousands of other domestic-violence slayings.

He asked the judge to stay within state guidelines and sentence Sherer to 32 years.

"I understand family members hating (Sherer) and wanting vengeance," Mair told Wartnik.

"But you are sentencing the man."

But prosecutors presented a domestic-violence expert who said the evidence shows Jami Sherer lived in an emotional prison at the controlling hands of a husband who showed all the classic signs of being a wife-beater.

"On a scale of one to 10, he's an 11, in my opinion," said the expert, Karil Klingbiel of the University of Washington.

Jami Sherer's mother, Judy Hagel of Bellevue, said the crime has left the worst scar on the Sherers' young son, Tyler.

Now 12 and living with the Hagels, the boy is too embarrassed to tell friends his mother was murdered by his father, Hagel said.

"Steve took Jami's life, but he also took Tyler from Jami's life," she said softly.

"Maybe (Sherer) will have second thoughts, and maybe for once in his life he'll do the right thing and admit to his mistakes instead of blaming everybody else," she said.

"Because I'd love to find Jami. Then I could go and get her and bring her home (for burial). That's what I would like to do."

Seattle Times staff reporter Louis T. Corsaletti contributed to this report.

Ian Ith's phone message number is 206-464-2109. His e-mail address is iith@seattletimes.com