Times/News

The man once convicted of murder for killing 20-year-old Kristopher Kime in 2001 now faces a lesser charge of manslaughter in connection with the crime.

Jerell A. Thomas, who was sentenced to prison for beating Kime to death during the Mardi Gras riot in Pioneer Square, has now entered a plea of innocent to the manslaughter charge.

Last November, the State Supreme Court ruled that a person can not be convicted of murder for committing an assault if the victim dies from injuries suffered in that attack.

"As the mother of the victim, it just doesn't seem right," said Kime's mother, Kim Parks.

People need to look at the justices when they vote on them because the justices are the ones who interpret the law, Parks added.

Kime, a 1998 graduate of Evergreen High School, went with a group of friends to Pioneer Square to celebrate Mardi Gras on Feb. 27, 2001.

During the rioting that took place later in the evening, Thomas punched and beat Kime in the street while Kime tried to help a woman who had been attacked and knocked to the ground.

Seattle police stood back on orders from the mayor and their chief and did not intervene.

Kime's friends carried his body out of the street. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center, were he died the following day.

Thomas was convicted of second-degree murder in 2001 and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

If convicted of manslaughter, he will face a shorter sentence. The four years he's already served will count toward completion of that sentence.

Thomas entered an innocent plea at an Aug. 17 pretrial hearing on the first-degree manslaughter charge.

In attendance at the hearing was Parks.

The pain of her son's murder and the ensuing trial four years ago lingered with Parks as she sat in the courtroom again last week, wearing the button with Kris's picture that she's worn on every court visit.

Despite trying to be strong the whole day, "I lost it when they said his (Thomas's) name," said Parks.

"As he (Thomas) sauntered out of the room, I wanted to scream."

Parks was notified three weeks ago that Thomas would be retried in the death of her son.

She was present when Governor Gary Locke signed into law the legislation that would change Thomas's conviction to manslaughter, knowing it would affect the case.

Ken Kime, Kime's father and Parks' ex-husband, didn't attend the hearing.

"He knew what to expect," said Parks.

"Where are the rights?" Parks asked. "They keep thinking about all the rights of the man who did it. It's just not right. He could be on the streets in five or six years."

Thomas is being held in the King County Jail where he awaits his manslaughter trial, scheduled for Sept. 7.

"He's closer to his family now, they can come see him anytime. I have to visit my son at the cemetery," Parks added.

Before the pretrial hearing, Parks drove through Pioneer Square near the place where Kime was fatally injured.

At the base of tree, across the street from where he was beaten, a plaque was placed by the city of Seattle with his picture, with the inscription: "No greater love hath a man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."