Woman sent to prison for killing a Tri-Cities man who didn’t return her car

Everyone agreed Bobby Burgess was a good man, even the woman who stabbed him to death.

“One thing I want to make clear and that I’ve heard from everyone in the courtroom this morning is that our community lost a good man,” Judge Diana Ruff said during an emotional sentencing hearing Tuesday. “We all understand that no piece of property, however valuable, is worth a human life.”

He died in a dispute over a 2022 Lexus he borrowed and allegedly refused to return.

A month ago, just a day before her trial was to begin, Marta Miller-Keith, 55, of Kennewick, pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter for killing Burgess.

Ruff followed an agreement hammered out by prosecutors and her defense attorneys in which she agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge, but still serve six-and-a-half years in a Washington state prison.

That is nearly three times the potential sentence she would face for her second-degree manslaughter plea.

In addition, she will pay about $5,000 in restitution to cover Burgess’ funeral expenses. She also was ordered to stay away from five members of Burgess’ family for the next 10 years.

In August 2021, Miller-Keith took a taxi to the Riviera Mobile Home Park on Road 32 in Pasco where Burgess lived. A taxi driver reported hearing two people fighting while he was parked outside.

Burgess came running toward the taxi and yelled, “She stabbed me,” before he collapsed bleeding.

Miller-Keith claimed she was defending herself and her property when she stabbed him.

Her attorney, Deric Orr, told the judge Tuesday that Miller-Keith decided to accept the plea and sentencing deal because she wanted to resolve the case.

“I think in no small part because she feels for Mr. Burgess,” Orr said. “She’s maintained that … since day one. … She did not feel that this was a good thing that happened. She knows that this was a tragedy.”

Miller-Keith also described Burgess as a hard worker and good man when he was sober. She remembered he would be the first out the door to offer her help bringing in the groceries.

“That’s why it was weird for me to find the violence that I found because he’s never been violent to me,” she said. “The knife was taken on purpose. … I just grabbed a bunch of stuff out of my junk drawer.”

Plea agreement

Franklin County Deputy Prosecutor Maureen Astley said the agreement did not come about easily. She couldn’t have predicted what the outcome of a trial would be.

“I think if we tried this case in front of four different juries, we would get probably four different results,” she said. “The uncertainty with trying a case like this was tantamount.”

Burgess’ family didn’t agree with the resolution, Astley said, and she understood that the sentence didn’t seem like a fair trade for someone’s life.

Three family members told the judge that they believed Miller-Keith came to the trailer that night with murder on her mind.

They said Burgess was a good person who had left a positive mark on his family members. He loved hunting and fishing and spending time with his family.

“My cousin, Bobby Gene Burgess, was many things, some good and some bad, but he did not deserve to die,” Rebecca Hecker said. “And he did not deserve to be murdered, which is exactly what Marta Keith did on Aug. 21 and over a car. It was not self defense. It was premeditated murder.”

Hecker argued that people accused of attempted murder served longer prison terms.

“My biggest fear is that she may get out and do this again,” she said.

Any resolution

As Ruff imposed the sentence, she pointed out that no person is perfect, but just because someone has some bad in them doesn’t make their life less valuable.

“Sometimes human beings do the worst things and the cruelest things to the people that we’re closest to, and there is no denying that Mr. Burgess was close to the defendant,” the judge said.

She agreed there was a lot of uncertainty with having a jury trial where one side claimed self-defense. While the current outcome might not be what family members like, any resolution can be beneficial, Ruff said.

“I promise you having some closure, even one that you don’t like, is much preferable to having something remain open ended and have a question mark for years to come,” Ruff said. “I do hope that brings you some comfort.”