Boot Gets Life For Murder Friends And Family Of Felicia Reese Confront Killer At Sentencing

In a hearing so emotional it left the judge teary-eyed, Kevin Boot was sent to prison Thursday for the rest of his life for killing Felicia Reese in 1994.

Boot, 19, listened blank-faced as Spokane County Superior Court Judge Tari Eitzen handed down the mandatory sentence for aggravated murder.

He apologized to Reese’s family for his “involvement” in the shooting but insisted once again he didn’t pull the trigger.

“I did not kill Felicia Reese,” he said softly.

Defense attorney Richard Fasy promised to appeal the Feb. 18 conviction.

“I am very disappointed and I disagree with the verdict of the jury,” Fasy told the judge.

During the hearing, several of Reese’s friends and relatives talked to Boot for the first time, mostly about forgiveness. They clutched framed photographs of the smiling, auburn-haired 22-year-old woman and held hands in the courtroom.

Ken Whitehall, who had been planning to marry Reese in the summer of 1995, urged Boot to change his life.

“Your life isn’t over, no matter how much time you spend in prison,” Whitehall told Boot. “You can become a new person.”

Reese’s friend, Patty Marinos, also said she was there out of forgiveness, not hate and bitterness.

“I ask myself what Felicia would want me to say to you, and she would want me to say you can be a better person,” Marinos said.

The victim’s mother, however, cried and spoke angrily to Boot, whom she said she could never forgive for taking away her only child.

“You’re just lucky that you get to live,” Maggie Bucher said. “Hopefully, your soul will catch up with you and your conscience will haunt you. And I know after death you will be in hell.”

Kevin Boot and his cousin, Jerry Boot, 17, were charged with first-degree aggravated murder in the Dec. 27, 1994, killing. Reese was kidnapped from the parking lot of the Sheraton-Spokane Hotel, where she was attending a church conference.

A date for Jerry Boot’s trial has not been set. Both defendants have pointed the finger at each other for killing Reese, a cheerful Christian who sang in her church choir.

The boys’ grandfather, also named Jerry Boot, told the judge Thursday he believed his other grandson - not Kevin Boot - shot the girl. He has said Kevin Boot was afraid of his younger cousin, who was bigger and stronger.

The elder Jerry Boot turned to face Reese’s relatives and said he was sorry for their loss.

“My heart goes out to the family. They’re beautiful people,” he said. “I look at (Reese’s) picture and I grieve, too.”

Because Kevin Boot was a juvenile when the crime occurred, prosecutors could not seek the death penalty. He will serve his sentence without possibility of parole.

Spokane County Prosecutor Jim Sweetser reminded the judge that Boot’s age prevented his office from pursuing all its options.

“This was a cold-blooded, premeditated, planned execution,” Sweetser said. “(Reese) had no choice. He had the choice.”

Eitzen said the law gave her no discretion in regards to the life sentence, but she was clearly moved by the comments from both sides.

Afterward, she admitted the trial was difficult.

“I hope I never get to the point where cases like this don’t hit me in the gut,” Eitzen said. “If I do, I shouldn’t be doing this anymore.”

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