Man sentenced to life in prison for 'brutal execution' of Everett police officer
EVERETT, Wash. - A man who killed an Everett police officer last year was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in what the judge called a "brutal execution of an excellent police officer."
Earlier this month, a jury found Richard Rotter guilty of aggravated first-degree murder in the death of Officer Dan Rocha. The verdict meant the 51-year-old Kennewick man faced life in prison without the possibility of parole.
It took about four hours of deliberations, from a Friday afternoon to a Monday morning, for a jury of eight women and four men to reach the unanimous verdict.
Jurors had the option of convicting Rotter of the lesser charge of second-degree murder but did not do so. The jury also found Rotter guilty of unlawful firearm possession, possession with the intent to manufacture or distribute methamphetamine, fentanyl and heroin, and attempting to elude police.
Under sentencing guidelines, the only sentence for aggravated first-degree murder in Washington state is life in prison.
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Richard Rotter (FOX 13 Seattle)
More than a dozen Everett police officers were present as Superior Court Judge Bruce Weiss announced the sentence.
The court heard from Officer Rocha's sister who gave a statement.
"The decision to take Danny's life was his and his alone," said Morgen Henry. "Each shot he fired caused a ripple and a tear in every person's life who met, cared for, and loved Dan."
Rotter himself spoke for the first time following the sentencing, apologizing to Rocha's family and to his own family.
"I am a Christian and I have fallen," Rotter said. "It says in the Word ‘all who have sinned and fallen short of glory God’ and I just ask that you please remember that."
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Inside the courtroom Monday, April 3, 2023 for the murder trial against Richard Rotter.
In a statement, Everett Police Chief Dan Templeman said the verdict "comes with mixed feelings."
"While on one hand, I am pleased to see that the defendant will be held accountable for his actions to the fullest extent of the law, it still doesn’t bring Dan back, nor does it change the fact that his family lost a loving son, husband, brother and father," Templeman said.
Rocha was shot in the head after prosecutors say he and Rotter got into an altercation in the parking lot of a Starbucks in Everett on March 25, 2022. The shooter fled in a car. Police arrested Rotter following a nearby three-vehicle crash.
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Everett Police Officer Dan Rocha.
Prosecutors said Rotter appeared to be moving guns between two cars in the parking lot before Rocha confronted him.
The two talked calmly for about eight minutes before Rocha, who joined the police department in 2017, tried to arrest Rotter, a convicted felon, for investigation of unlawful firearm possession. Rocha was shot five times in a struggle with Rotter, prosecutors said.
Three of those shots were to his head and would have been fatal for Rocha on their own, an autopsy found.
The verdict came after nearly two weeks of testimony at the trial in Snohomish County Superior Court. The defendant didn’t testify.
Rotter’s public defender, Natalie Tarantino, told the jury her client had "no plan" to kill but instead, she said a combination of drug use and post-traumatic stress led him to shoot Rocha.
"It was reactionary and fast and impulsive, which are just the symptoms of his mental health disorders," she said.