Fort Lewis Soldier Sentenced To 20 years In Prison

TACOMA (AP) – A Fort Lewis soldier hung his head and wept when he stood before a judge and was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder for drowning his wife in a bathtub. “She was my best friend,” Sgt. James Kevin Pitts told Pierce County Superior Court Judge Frederick Fleming on Thursday at his sentencing hearing. “I had the picture-perfect family.” In a sometimes rambling monologue, Pitts said “I wish I was dead” in saying how sorry he was for killing his wife, Tara Pitts, 28, only weeks after he returned from a year-long deployment in Iraq. Pitts, 32, of Sheffield Lake, Ohio, was found guilty by a jury last month for the drowning of his wife in their Lakewood apartment in April 2004. Prosecutors said Pitts was angry with his wife for threatening to report to his superiors an affair he had with another soldier. Fleming sentenced Pitts to the low end of the standard sentencing range although deputy prosecutor Dawn Farina had asked for the high end of the range _ more than 26 years. Farina said Pitts showed no remorse and left his 10-year-old son without a mother or father. “His life has been turned upside down,” she said of the boy, who now lives with his maternal grandmother. “It’s time for Mr. Pitts to step up and take responsibility for his actions.” Defense lawyer Sverre Staurset said Pitts had taken responsibility because he notified Army officials on Fort Lewis that he’d killed his wife. Pitts also confessed the crime to detectives, Staurset said. “How much more stepping up do you do?” he said. Staurset asked Fleming to sentence Pitts to the low end of the range, pointing out that psychological experts testified during Pitts’ trial that the member of the 864th Engineer Battalion suffered from depression and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from Iraq. Pitts also had served his country well for 11 years and had no criminal history, Staurset said. “We are not our last acts,” he told the judge. “Mr. Pitts deserves some level of understanding for those years before.” The judge ordered Pitts to have no contact with his son, but said the boy was free to contact his father after a psychologist or other professional counselor decides he’s emotionally ready to do so.