Husband says Carri Williams should spend decades in jail

Mount Vernon, Wash. — A Skagit husband says his wife is the only one should spend decades in jail for the death of their adopted daughter. Larry and Carri Williams will be sentenced next week for killing the girl and abusing their adopted son. But Larry's attorney filed a bold motion Friday to get him out of jail quickly.

It's been two and a half years since Hana Williams froze and starved to death outside the Sedro-Woolley home she shared with her adopted parents and their seven biological children. This summer, a jury convicted the couple of killing the girl and abusing her adopted brother, Immanuel. Carri was also convicted of homicide by abuse. The jury deadlocked on the same charge against Larry. "She was the primary actor in all of the treatment of Hana and Immanuel," said Larry's attorney, Rachel Forde.

Larry faces 14 to 19 years in prison. He's already spent nearly two years in jail for violating his parole by trying to contact his children before the trial. Forde is asking a judge for a short five-year sentence, arguing Larry was away working at Boeing while Carri, a stay-at-home mom, beat the adopted pair and fed them frozen food. With time served, Larry would be free in three years.

A KIRO-TV reporter asked, "Would you expect people to be mad about a recommendation like that?" "Whether or not they're mad, I think that's what's in the interest of justice as far as Mr. Williams' culpability goes," said Forde.

Carri testified Larry knew everything that was happening in the home. She's being held in the Skagit County jail and faces 27 to 37 years in prison. Staff members are keeping her in a small unit away from the general population out of fear the nature of her crimes could spark an attack by other inmates. "We just felt it in our and her best interests to house her in as low-risk a setting as we could find," said Chief of Corrections Charlie Wend.

The Williamses will be sentenced next week in Mount Vernon.

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