Judge disagrees with 30-day sentence recommendation for teen who killed classmate in fight

EVERETT, Wash. -- Anger, tears and disbelief  played out in a Snohomish County courtroom Friday as family members of a teenager killed during a fight expressed their pain.

Robbie Myrick Jr. died after a fight over a girl.

The teenager charged in Robbie’s murder was sentenced on Friday.

For Robbie’s dad, every minute is an emotional struggle.

“To watch my son slowly die, it’s killed me, I go to bed crying, hoping I don’t wake up just so I can see him again,” Robert Myrick Sr. said.

His 16 year-old son agreed to fight a 15-year-old boy in the woods in Marysville.

Family members say the boy hit Robbie repeatedly even after Robbie fell to the ground.

It was a kick to the head as Robbie lay on the ground that would eventually kill the teenager.

“The force used was great enough to displace his brain ¾ of an inch,” Myrick said.

A number of students from their school showed up to watch the fight. But Robbie lay there convulsing for an entire hour before anyone called 911.

“Not one of them could take them in their car and take them and help him,” Myrick said.

“The image of Robbie struggling and fighting to breathe for 2 days after taken off life support will ever be burned in mind,” Robbie’s uncle, Rod Myrick, said.

With the defendant pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter, the prosecutor said the two sides had agreed that the maximum sentence would be 30 days in jail.

“Young people can get away with murder,” Myrick said.

After Robbie’s dad expressed outrage over the 30-day sentence, the defendant’s family members begged for forgiveness.

“I truly want to tell the family we are truly deeply deeply sorry,” the teenager’s grandmother said.

“My son has definitely been changed forever,” the teenger’s dad said.

Soon after that, the defendant addressed Robbie’s family in court.

“I regret my actions daily, it was never my intent to take his life,” said the teenager.

But those words did not appease Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Richard Okrent.

“It takes a lot of anger to kick someone in the head with such force to cause them to go to comatose,” Okrent said.

The judge also said the teenager’s initial lies to police to cover up his role in the crime played a part in his decision.  Okrent also called the teenager's actions cruel, sentencing him to a year in jail instead of 30 days.

Leaving court, Robbie’s dad said he was surprised but relieved over the judge’s ruling.

He said he was grateful the judge did not agree with the prosecutor in this case.

Even the convicted teenager’s mom said she understood the sentencing.

“I am OK with it, I am OK with it,” said the mom.

Q13 News is not identifying the convicted teenager because he was charged as a juvenile.