Young gets 25 years for Tuohy homicide

Pend Oreille County resident Daniel L. Young, 47, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in a homicide last July in the parking lot of a Denny’s restaurant in Arlington, Wash.

Young’s sentence in Snohomish County Superior Court was at the bottom of the standard range for his first-degree murder conviction, but will keep him in prison at least 10 years longer than if he had accepted a plea bargain.

Because of state mandatory minimums for murder and crimes involving firearms, Young won’t be eligible for good-behavior credit and will have to serve his entire sentence.

Deputy Prosecutor Helene Blume said she offered to recommend a 15-year sentence if Young would plead guilty to second-degree murder. He would have been free to seek the minimum standard sentence of 10 1/4 years. Co-defendant Bryce W. Howe, 19, accepted the same deal and is awaiting sentencing.

The only person to beat the prosecutor’s odds was the person who actually killed 23-year-old Shawn Tuohy. Daniel Young’s son, Matthew S. Young, 21, was acquitted by a Snohomish County jury on grounds that he justifiably killed Tuohy to protect his friend, Howe.

Matthew Young shot Tuohy in the head after Tuohy took a shot at Howe in what everyone except Matthew Young said was an attempt to rob Tuohy. State law says it is murder if a victim dies during a robbery, but Matthew Young claimed he was merely trying to sell drugs to Tuohy.