Seattle – The chief of a military-style financial institution theft, who later assaulted a co-defendant and tried to rent somebody to kill a federal prosecutor, was resentenced right now to 31 years in jail for his crimes, introduced U.S. Legal professional Nick Brown. Luke Elliott Sommer, 36, of Peachland, British Columbia, Canada, had efficiently petitioned U.S. District Choose James L. Robart to overview his sentence based mostly on his youth on the time of the crimes and his reform whereas in jail. In lowering the sentence from 43 years to 31 years, Choose Robart first famous that Sommer’s crimes “are among the most excessive, violent and harmful actions to come back earlier than this courtroom.”
“Luke Sommer advised the courtroom, and the victims of his crimes, that he had actually modified and expressed his sorrow for his actions,” stated U.S. Legal professional Nick Brown. “He claims to be dedicated to engaged on his reform and doing what is correct – he now has greater than a decade to exhibit that dedication whereas he stays incarcerated.”
Luke Sommer was initially sentenced to 24 years in jail on December 12, 2008, for Conspiracy to Commit Armed Financial institution Theft, Armed Financial institution Theft, Brandishing a Firearm Throughout and in Relation to a Crime of Violence, and Possession of an Unregistered Harmful System – Hand Grenade. Sommer was the mastermind of the August 7, 2006, theft of a Tacoma department of Financial institution of America. 5 males, together with Sommer, participated within the theft. Two had been armed with totally automated AK-47 machine weapons. Sommer and one other man carried loaded semi-automatic handguns. The boys wore gentle physique armor to guard themselves in case of a shoot-out with police and carried a whole lot of rounds of additional ammunition. Sommer advised the others that he needed to make use of the proceeds of the theft to start out a criminal offense household to rival the Hell’s Angels in British Columbia, Canada. The boys escaped with greater than $50,000 however had been rapidly tracked down and arrested due to an alert citizen who famous the license plate of the getaway automobile.
Right now, three victims of the financial institution theft advised the courtroom how they suffered following the crime with post-traumatic stress and nervousness. The previous department supervisor described how she noticed the purple dot of Sommer’s laser web site pointed at her younger tellers. “The workers was by no means the identical, I’ll by no means be the identical,” the department supervisor stated.
Along with the financial institution theft, in 2010 Sommer was convicted of providing an undercover FBI process drive officer as a lot as $20,000 for murdering an Assistant United States Legal professional. Legislation enforcement was alerted to Sommer’s curiosity in hiring a success man in January 2009, barely a month after Sommer was sentenced for the financial institution theft. Sommer moved ahead with the plot in March 2009, when he tried to rent the undercover officer telling him he needed information stories of the hit to mirror that it was “homicide not an accident.”
Moreover, on January 23, 2009, Sommer used a prison-made knife to assault a co-defendant within the financial institution theft case. The 2 males had been to be housed individually on the Federal Detention Middle at SeaTac, however Sommer schemed to get to the opposite man’s jail unit with the weapon. Sommer attacked the opposite inmate, preventing till the 2 had been pulled aside by workers. Sommer continued to yell and threaten the security of the sufferer. Though the sufferer suffered a minor stab wound and a number of abrasions, neither man needed to be hospitalized.
In lowering Sommer’s sentence, Choose Robart famous that “punishment isn’t vengeance or retaliation.” The decide stated he put weight on the letters from Bureau of Prisons workers who point out Sommer has “labored arduous to do the best factor whereas incarcerated.”
Assistant United States Attorneys Todd Greenberg and Teal Miller dealt with the resentencing.