PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) — After pleading guilty to attempted first-degree murder for strangling his mother, a suspect praised Kitsap County officials for the mental health care he received in jail.
Michael Thayer told the judge Thursday that he’s safe from himself now, and is getting better every day.
He was then sentenced to 19 years in prison.
Eighty-nine year old Frances Thayer survived the attack and recovered enough to leave the rehabilitation facility but then died about five months after the attack.
Prosecutors would have added a charge of first-degree murder had the case gone to trial, but admitted that proving she died from the attack would have been difficult.