For more than two years, friends and family of Ben Eastman have sought justice for the 16-year-old, who was found beaten and buried in a shallow grave in July 2018, in one of the most brutal killings in recent Lewis County memory.
On Monday, Jonathon Adamson was sentenced to 563 months, or nearly 47 years, to life in prison for convictions for first-degree murder, first-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping and witness tampering in Eastman’s death.
His brother, Benito Marquez, was sentenced to a total of 360 months, or more than 26 years, for charges of first-degree murder and first-degree assault. Due to his age at the time time, 16, he will be eligible for early release after 20 years.
“I can’t really express how sorry I really am,” Marquez said. “I’m not the monster that I was that night. … He was my best friend, I don’t know how I did what I did. It’s unforgivable, but holding that hate in your heart is just going to hurt you more and more and more.”
Adamson also spoke before being sentenced, saying he was “deeply remorseful.”
“Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do to change the past,” he said.
On June 24, 2018, Adamson, 21 at the time, and Marquez lured Eastman into the woods in East Lewis County on the pretext of going camping. They beat him for approximately 45 minutes, finally burying him in a shallow grave.
Later, they dug up Eastman’s body and reburied it, then traveled to Eastern Washington with help from family, as law enforcement found Eastman’s body and began looking for suspects.
Two family members of Eastman’s spoke at the hearing, and Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer read two statements.
“Words cannot express the pain and anguish my family has endured,” wrote Rhonda Bridges, Eastman’s grandmother, in a letter read by Meyer at the hearing.
The attorneys involved, and Superior Court Judge James Lawler, spoke about how the case had affected them personally.
“I’ve seen a lot of cases. I’ve never seen a case like this,” Lawler said before passing sentence on Adamson.
The judge, who noted his 38-year law career, said he was “horrified” by the facts of the case in the probable cause report, the first collection of facts alleged in a criminal case.
“This case, unbelievably, just kept getting worse,” Lawler said. “This case and your actions are simply beyond belief, but we have to believe it.”
Meyer asked for the highest sentence allowable by state law in Adamson’s case.
“It’s hard to look at Mr. Adamson and find redeeming qualities,” Meyer said.
Meyer described Adamson as the instigator of the attack, saying that at one point, Eastman was able to break loose and Marquez suggested they should stop beating him. At that point, Meyer said Adamson told his younger brother they’d already “come too far.”
“Mr. Adamson has earned every day of the top end of the standard range,” Meyer said.
As Adamson led the attack, Marquez followed, the prosecutor continued, and that influences the sentence requested.
“We considered his youth and his age at the time,” Meyer said. “We also looked at the fact that this was a plan that was hatched by his brother, it was encouraged by his brother, and some of the most brutal aspects of the crime were carried out by his brother.”
Meyer also argued Marquez deserved a lesser sentence and lesser convictions because of his help with the investigation. That being said, Meyer also argued that Marquez played a primary role in luring Eastman to his death.
Marquez was allowed to withdraw guilty pleas to additional charges, leading to his convictions on only first-degree murder and first-degree assault due to his assistance.
“Mr. Marquez was brutally honest about what occurred,” he said.
Defense attorney Shane O’Rourke noted his client’s age at the time of the offense, 16, and argued that his age and immaturity played a major role in his willingness to participate with Adamson in the killing and should be taken into account in the sentence.
