PORT ANGELES — Engre Louise Brown, 28, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and was sentenced to 12 years in prison Wednesday after potential jurors said they were reluctant to find her guilty of first-degree murder in the death of 25-year-old Sequim man Benjamin Michael Merscher.
The jury would have had the options of finding Brown, also of Sequim, guilty of first-degree murder or vehicular homicide had testimony been heard in the Clallam County Superior Court trial later this week.
Pre-trial motions were heard Monday and jury selection began Tuesday in the trial, which was expected to last two weeks.
Brown also pleaded guilty to driving with a revoked license and two counts of contempt of court for drinking and driving in violation of court orders.
Each offense carries a maximum sentence of one year and will be served concurrently as part of the 12-year sentence.
As part of the plea agreement, Brown agreed that she was solely responsible for Merscher’s death.
“That was a integral part of the agreement,” Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly said.
In choosing a sentence that exceeded the standard sentence range of 7 ½ years, Judge Ken Williams told Brown she needs help with her addiction.
She will serve her sentence at the Washington Corrections Center for Women at Purdy and will be eligible for parole after eight years.
“I hope you take advantage of the opportunities that are there,” Williams said.
If not, he said, “you could end up back here.”
Plea agreement
The outlines of a plea agreement were drawn Tuesday night after several hours of jury questioning and were finalized Wednesday morning before jury selection began anew, said Kelly and Port Angeles attorney John Black, who represented Brown.
Black said in an interview that it became apparent the first-degree murder charge would not stick after several potential jurors were told that Brown was willing to plead guilty to vehicular homicide.
Brown, who had just argued with her boyfriend, had a blood-alcohol content of .18 — more than twice the legal limit of .08 — when she rammed head-on into Merscher at about 1:30 a.m. Oct. 7 on Highway 101 west of Kitchen-Dick Road between Port Angeles and Sequim, Kelly said during pretrial motions Monday.
Kelly said Wednesday in an interview that the car Brown was driving belonged to a family member, and that Brown had a second set of keys.
Williams’ rulings
Kelly said her chances of getting a jury to convict Brown of first-degree murder for killing Merscher “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life” were compromised by Williams’ rulings on Monday.
Williams would not allow Kelly to tell the jury Brown had attended a victim-impact panel on a previous charge of driving under the influence and that she “had actually, in effect, listened to direct, face-to-face presentations by victims of DUIs,” Kelly said Wednesday.
Williams also would not allow Kelly to present evidence that Brown was under court orders to not drive and to not drink and drive.
“My evidence was somewhat watered down over the last few days in the immediate run-up to trial,” Kelly said.
“I believe that even with the restrictions, the evidence was there that would have justified proceeding, but the risk of getting it was much greater.
“A number of jurors were uncomfortable with the idea of a murder charge under these circumstances.”
The plea agreement gives “closure for both families,” Black said, while Merscher’s grieving friends and family members gathered outside the courtroom following sentencing.
Brown, who was being held in Clallam County jail on $355,000 bail, broke her thigh bone in the crash.
She leaned heavily on a cane as she entered and exited the courtroom.
Merscher graduated with a University of Oregon business degree in 2007.
He worked at the Sequim Costco Wholesale Warehouse store.
More than 400 mourners attended his memorial service.
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Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
