A U. S. Army Ranger previously stationed at Joint Base Lewis- McChord was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison for beating a security guard to suicide in downtown , Tacoma , after he went out drinking with another Rangers.
Spc.  , Patrick Philip Byrne , pleaded innocent in March to initially- degree murder in the , July 18, 2021 , dying of 41- yr- old , Denise Smith. The girl had worked only five swings at the 12- story , Frank Russel Building,  , 909 A St., before Byrne attacked her.
According to court records, the man allegedly assaulted Smith for 8 to 10 minutes, drag her by the mane, punch her repeatedly, and then attempt to cut her eyes out with the officer’s keys, according to surveillance video. Smith was then choked until she became unconscious before he flipped her onto her belly for another minute or two.
Byrne attempted to crush a window into a conference room and toss equipment around in the lobby following the attack. He then left, and allegedly fell or jumped 14 feet above street level, according to the charging records. He later admitted to a doctor where he claimed he had no memory of the events that occurred.
More than 60 Smith’s family sat in the court museum with a sign that read” the lady in her protection officer uniform” while six of her friends spoke during the hearing. Smith’s girl,  , Tina Renee Mack, wore all natural. She said it was her friend’s favorite color, and she wanted Byrne to think of Smith’s brand whenever he saw it.
” I just wanted Patrick to know that he immediately took our existence and made it very difficult to carry on with living,” Mack said.
Smith grew up in , Seattle, where she graduated from , Rainier Beach High School , in 1998, but her household hails from , Indiana. Her eldest stepson,  , Dennis Mack, told the jury he was brought up in the Midwest, and he protects his daughters. He added that if something were to happen to him in court, he may be sitting there as well.
” I’m trying not to be on Court TV,” he says while choking his head with his eyes. But that’s what I want to do” , , Dennis Mack , said. I’ll not be able to accept him for his actions.
Byrne testified in court on Friday that he still recalls the events of that night.
His lawyer from the , Department of Assigned Counsel,  , David Katayama, wrote in court papers that before the crime, Byrne became involved in a physical altercation at , The Office Bar &, Grill , where he was punched in the head and knocked to the concrete. Days after gaining awareness, Byrne was violently trying to enter the tower where Smith was working.
Before handing down the word,  , Pierce County Superior Court , Judge , Stanley Rumbaugh , said there was validity to the security attorney’s remarks, which led him to believe Byrne had some element of loss of capacity when he committed the crime.
However, Rumbaugh added that he felt Byrne needed to understand that drinking to the point where it makes you feel sluggish and excessive in government was a choice. The plaintiff, according to the judge, also knew that he had previously suffered head injuries from car accidents and during his military service, but he made an excessive amount of alcohol consumption to make those issues worse.
” It’s interesting to hear you talk about the future and your upcoming plans because , Denise Smith , has no forthcoming”, Rumbaugh said. She was ruthlessly murdered in a manner unlike anything else this jury has ever had the misfortune of dealing with. It, it’s really just indescribably cruel”.
According to Katayama, he claimed in court filings that two doctors who examined Byrne’s medical records freely determined that the head injury was the result of a brain injury like the one that witnesses to the table fight described as being caused by a brain bleed in the area of the tissue that controls ethics and view.
The defense and prosecutors agreed on a recommended phrase that would be the lowest end of the common punishment range for defendants facing similar charges, which would range from 20 to 26 years in prison. Byrne had no prior criminal views.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney , Thomas Howe , wrote in court papers that had the case gone to trial, a jury would assume based on surveillance video that Byrne caused Smith’s death, but there was a genuine problem of truth in regard to his emotional condition. A jury might struggle to reach a unanimous decision because of the lack of clarity on a motive.
” He’s pleading a murder- one, so it was my belief that when someone, whatever their motivation is, comes forward, pleads to basically the top half, which is where I think we’d end up after trial, that I’m going to agree to a low- end recommendation”, Howe said in court.
Byrne stated in court documents that he was willing to accept a plea deal to protect both the victim’s and his family.
The defendant remained on active duty Thursday pending the completion of his civilian criminal trial, a spokesperson for his unit, the , 75th Ranger Regiment, told , The News Tribune. However, the administrative separation process has already begun and is anticipated to be finished soon.
Byrne was raised in , New York , and , North Carolina , in an Irish Catholic family, and he joined the military at age 23 following the events of , Sept. 11, 2001, according to the defense’s sentencing memorandum. He has suffered numerous serious head injuries, including injuries sustained in the military and two auto accidents while he was a young man. After his parachute failed to deploy during an airplane jump, he reportedly experienced a “blast concussion” and a significant fall.
Prior to Smith’s murder, Byrne had recently returned to JBLM after a two- month deployment to , Afghanistan.
Byrne prayed that Smith’s family would accept his sincere apology when he was asked to address the court and claimed that he could never adequately express how sorry he was. He claimed that if it had n’t been for the head injury he had suffered as a result of an assault, it would n’t have happened.
” I wish I had never gone to that bar, that I had never gone out at all that night”, Byrne said. Nothing of this would have happened if I had never even been out here. And , Denise Smith, a great and wonderful woman, to be sure, she would still be alive and part of the world for much much longer”.
Outside the courtroom,  , Tina Mack , told , The News Tribune , that it was hard to say if Byrne had received a fair sentence. A life is gone, she said, and he still has one. But at the same time, she said, justice has been served. Mack said the man’s apology seemed genuine.
” I feel he is sorry for what he’s done. I’m a forgiving person. It’s going to take a while, but my heart does go out to him. It does. I do n’t think he’s a bad person, I just think it was a bad situation”.
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