A former U.S. Army Ranger serving a 44-year jail sentence for main a terrifying takeover theft at a Tacoma financial institution, then ordering successful on the assistant U.S. legal professional who prosecuted him, has requested a decide to set him free.
Luke Elliott Sommer claims he is a modified man after almost 15 years in a maximum-security federal jail and that his authentic sentence was extreme. He is asking U.S. District Decide James Robart to scale back his sentence to not more than 20 years, which might get him out of jail as early as 2028.
Robart is contemplating whether or not to take oral arguments on the 45-page movement, which was filed in June.
“Whereas his conduct was extraordinarily severe, his sentence overstates his offense conduct,” wrote Sommer, who’s representing himself. He stated he was sentenced to extra jail time than others convicted of comparable offenses — and that the longer sentence has left him ineligible for jail applications reserved for these with earlier launch dates.
He additionally famous that he pleaded responsible to each the financial institution theft and his later try and have the prosecutor of his case killed.
Lastly, he stated newly developed brain-science analysis, not obtainable when he was sentenced in 2008, reveals “the typical male mind doesn’t totally develop till 25 years previous” and that his habits at age 20 was additional warped by a traumatic childhood leading to post-traumatic stress dysfunction and extreme alcohol and drug use.
Sommer stated all of that’s behind him. After years of heroin dependancy — together with persistent drug use whereas in jail — Sommer stated he is clear, sober and a revered mentor to different incarcerated individuals. His 45-page movement is accompanied by almost 200 pages of paperwork, letters and testimonials supporting his early launch, together with some written by jail guards, different inmates and program managers who’ve overseen his incarceration and witnessed his transformation.
Furthermore, Sommer argues, the COVID-19 pandemic has made jail life extra punitive and tough than anticipated by the courtroom when he was sentenced. A twin U.S./Canadian citizen, Sommer has been incarcerated on the maximum-security Coleman II federal penitentiary in Sumterville, Fla., greater than 2,500 miles from his household in British Columbia.
“Sommer’s extraordinary rehabilitation … gives sturdy help for his launch, lowering his probability of reoffending or posing a hazard to the neighborhood,” he argues within the movement, referring to himself within the third-person.
Federal prosecutors oppose his early launch, arguing that the complicated nature of the crime, his coaching as an elite soldier and his habits after his arrest justify in depth time behind bars.
“His prison conduct was severe, violent, and endured over the course of years,” wrote Assistant U.S. Legal professional Teal Luthy Miller of the theft, which concerned computerized weapons and hand grenades. “He led a workforce of armed financial institution robbers and possessed unlawful harmful gadgets. Then, after he fled to Canada and was ultimately extradited, he assaulted a co-defendant in jail.”
After pleading responsible to 4 felonies, together with armed financial institution theft, and receiving a 24-year sentence, Sommer tried to rent somebody to kill the federal prosecutor in his case, emphasizing that he did not need the murder to appear like an accident.
His “hit man” turned out to be an undercover FBI agent, and Sommer bought one other 20 years tacked onto his jail sentence, starting after the primary 20 years have been served.
In accordance with paperwork filed within the case, Sommer was an Army Ranger stationed at Fort Lewis when he recruited two different Rangers, Chad Palmer and Alex Blum, and Canadian nationals Tigra Robertson and Nathan Dunmall to take part within the Aug. 7, 2006, theft of a Financial institution of America department on South Tacoma Means. The robbers, some armed with AK-47s and sporting physique armor, made off with $54,011.
Prosecutors stated Sommer deliberate to make use of the cash to determine against the law household in Canada. Sommer claimed the theft was a political protest to attract consideration to battle crimes he witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan — a declare the Army later discounted.
A bystander noticed the license plate of the theft getaway automotive and reported it to police. The automotive was traced to Fort Lewis, the place proof of the crime was uncovered on the males’s barracks.
Sommer was arrested at his mother and father’ Peachland, B.C., house however disappeared after being positioned on home arrest. He later was arrested in Richmond, B.C.
Blum and Palmer, who served alongside Sommer in C Firm, 2nd Battalion, seventy fifth Ranger Regiment, pleaded responsible to participating within the theft, as did Robertson, of Kelowna, B.C., and Dunmall, of Chilliwack, B.C.
As a Ranger — his twin citizenship enabled him to affix the Army — Sommer served fight deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq, he stated, his roommate was killed by a roadside bomb.
In Afghanistan, he stated, his platoon was dispatched to get well the stays of Navy SEAL Staff 10 and their rescuers, who died in a 2005 ambush and helicopter crash memorialized within the guide and film “Lone Survivor.”
“For months, Sommer had lived, eaten and educated” with the SEAL workforce and “Nightstalker” helicopter crews, his courtroom movement stated. “The lack of buddies and acquaintances, alongside along with his antagonistic childhood experiences, resulted in Sommer creating extreme Submit-traumatic stress dysfunction, which Sommer nonetheless offers with right now.”
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