Washington man last of group sentenced in homeless killing

EVERETT, Wash. -- A man convicted of participating in the killing of a Washington state homeless man who was tied to a tree and left to die in the cold was sentenced to more than five years in prison.

Darron Weidman was sentenced for setting in motion a robbery that resulted in the December 2018 death of 46-year-old Michael Boone in Everett, The Daily Herald reports.

Weidman, 42, pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery in April 2019.

Earlier this month, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Bruce Weiss also sentenced Weidman's co-defendant, 35-year-old Donita Burkley, to more than three years.

Matthew McGowan, 28, was sentenced in February to more than 45 years in prison for first-degree murder.

Boone spoke with Weidman in the hours before New Year’s Day 2019 and offered to pay cash for sex with Burkley, court records said.

The group planned to rob Boone before McGowan struck Boone with a stick, choked him and tied him to a tree with his own belt. Temperatures dropped overnight and a passerby found Boone’s mostly unclothed body days later, authorities said.

Weidman left the group before the attack but Burkley acknowledged in a police interview that she looked through Boone’s jacket pockets.

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