Carjacker, Rapist Gets Life In Prison Michael Brandi Apologizes After Hearing Victim, Will Be Eligible For Parole In 2019

Michael Brandi stole a “girls night out,” fractured a marriage and devastated a family the night he carjacked and repeatedly attacked a woman over five hours.

Friends and family members, once captivated by the woman’s outgoing personality, trusting nature and confidence, talked about her Friday as if she had died during the hours of torture last fall.

A large part of her has, the woman said before her attacker was sentenced Friday.

“On the outside I look fine, but on the inside he has taken my soul and my spirit,” she said.

First District Court Judge James Judd sentenced Brandi, 33, to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years. Brandi pleaded guilty in February to first-degree kidnapping and rape in exchange for 11 other charges being dismissed.

“This is a horrific crime,” Judd said.

Brandi rocked in his chair during much of the hearing and looked straight ahead. He showed no emotion during nearly an hour of emotional testimony by the woman and her family and friends.

“My mind went through 1,000 layers of hell waiting for (her) return,” the woman’s husband said.

Plans to start a family have been put on hold while the couple attends counseling and struggles to rebuild their lives, he said.

“Our future turned distant, frightening and uncontrollable,” he said.

The names of the woman and her family are being withheld because of a newspaper policy not to identify victims of sexual assault.

The 28-year-old Seattle woman was waiting for a friend to use a bank machine inside the Sherman IGA on Sherman Avenue when she was abducted Oct. 10. The women, friends since high school, had planned to go out to dinner.

Brandi, who prosecutors said had been lurking in front of the store, climbed into the driver’s seat of the friend’s car, started it and drove off before the woman could remove her seat belt and get out.

Over the next 5-1/2 hours, Brandi forced the woman to drive around the county, stopping several times to assault her. He repeatedly threatened to kill her, telling her he had a knife.

Meanwhile, the woman’s husband and friend searched frantically for her, checking nearby parking lots and calling family members. Brandi eventually released the woman along Pennsylvania Avenue.

“He has brought to reality a parent’s worst nightmare,” the woman’s father said Friday. “He will never know the rivers of tears we shed imagining the worst.”

Lynn Nelson, chief deputy public defender, said Brandi has accepted responsibility and demonstrated his regret since his arrest. Brandi decided to plead guilty to spare the woman the trauma of reliving the attack during a trial, his attorney said.

“His first concern when he was brought in (to jail) was, `How’s my victim?”’ Nelson said. “How is she doing? Is she doing OK?”

Given a chance to speak Friday, Brandi used the time to make a brief apology.

“I just want to apologize to the family and the victim and my family for bringing pain and shame to them,” Brandi said. “I know sorry doesn’t fix anything, but I am sorry.”

Deputy prosecutor Michael Maltby disputed Brandi’s willingness to shoulder the blame. Brandi points to his methamphetamine usage as an excuse, instead of taking responsibility for his actions, Maltby said.

The cruelty of the assault justifies a lengthy sentence, Maltby said.

“He has the audacity, the unmitigated gall, to ask her, `Is this how you imagined being raped?”’ Maltby said. “And then he asks her at the end of the night for one last kiss.”

Attempting to separate the emotional response to the attack, the judge said giving Brandi a chance for parole gives him a goal to work toward and makes him earn his release.

“I think there is some sincerity in his regrets,” Judd said. “It doesn’t change the fact that he made the choices to do those things.”

Molly Michaud, who had planned to have dinner with her friend the night the woman was abducted, said the ordeal has left her friend, once strong and energetic, afraid and depressed.

“I miss her terribly,” Michaud said.