Sentencing delayed in Port Angeles strangling death
By Rob Ollikainen
Peninsula Daily News
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Bradfield, 23, was scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday for the strangulation of the 27-year-old developmentally disabled woman in October 2011.
The state Department of Corrections advised that it had not completed a court-ordered pre-sentencing investigation.
Defense attorney Loren Oakley of Clallam Public Defender and Clallam County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ann Lundwall agreed to reset the sentencing hearing for 9 a.m. March 21 in Clallam County Superior Court.
Bradfield pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Jan. 16.
He will receive a 20-year prison sentence with credit for the 17 months he already has served if the court imposes a recommended sentence that attorneys negotiated.
Bradfield is being held in the Clallam County jail.
Strangulation
Police said Bradfield strangled Pimentel in a Port Angeles apartment that was being rented by his girlfriend, Kendell K. Huether, on Oct. 9, 2011.
Huether, 26, is charged with first-degree rendering criminal assistance for allegedly helping Bradfield hide Pimentel’s body in a wooded area near the Hood Canal bridge.
She also is charged with two counts of witness tampering for allegedly asking two acquaintances to lie about seeing her childhood friend alive after her disappearance.
Huether agreed to plead guilty to rendering criminal assistance, but she maintains her innocence on the witness-tampering charges.
A trial is set for April 15.
Court papers said Bradfield and Huether initially claimed Pimentel accidentally had fallen down some steps in the home and died from a broken neck.
They said they panicked and decided to fabricate a story about Pimentel having run off with an unknown man.
Bradfield later admitted to having strangled Pimentel.
About 350 mourners attended Pimentel’s funeral at Ocean View Cemetery.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: March 05. 2013 5:32PM
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