Cramm takes the stand

Teen says he feared for himself, father in gunbattle

By Jim Haley

Herald Writer

A teen-ager who said he was afraid for himself and his father May 30 told a jury how he crouched on one knee and repeatedly fired a semiautomatic rifle in the direction of a man who had been firing a pistol.

Between the two armed combatants was a brown Honda with five teen-agers in it. Before the smoke had cleared, two of the youths in the car's back seat were shot dead.

Dennis Cramm, 18, who faces two counts of first-degree murder, told a Snohomish County Superior Court jury Thursday that he was afraid of some of the people who came to his south Everett residence to watch a prearranged fistfight.

He also said he reacted with the military-style SKS weapon only after gunfire erupted at his south Everett home.

For the first time in a nearly two-week trial, jurors heard Cramm's story from his own lips. He's charged in the deaths of Jesse Stoner and Jason Thompson, both 18. His lawyer, Royce Ferguson, has argued that Dennis Cramm fired in self-defense. The prosecution maintains he showed "extreme indifference to human life."

Stoner and Thompson were among the group of young people who descended on the Cramm home that evening to watch another teen fight Cramm.

Under questioning by Ferguson, Cramm recounted the events leading up to the ill-fated fistfight, and how people on his side stashed various weapons, including a shotgun and semiautomatic rifles, around the property.

He said he feared that some of those who came to watch a then 16-year-old fight Cramm also came armed.

"I was just supposed to fight," Cramm said. "Dad said he'd take care of the rest."

He described how somebody had held a pistol on his father, Dale Cramm, 45, and heard his dad plead not to be shot.

If Dennis Cramm went to his father's aid May 30, his father didn't on Thursday.

Dale Cramm was called by Ferguson to testify in his son's defense. But he would not do more than identify himself and his son in front of the jury.

Outside of the jury, Dale Cramm followed his attorney's advice and invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination pertaining to all events surrounding the May 30 shooting.

Dale Cramm has pleaded guilty to two felony drug possession charges, and many witnesses detailed how he orchestrated loading weapons and distributing them in advance of the fight.

Ferguson asked Dennis Cramm if the man who had been on the witness stand previously was his dad.

"I guess it was my father," Dennis Cramm responded.

The defendant also told jurors about hearing shots and then engaging in a running gunbattle with Anthony Lewis Bovan, 21, who had grabbed a pistol from one of the Cramm defenders and admitted firing several shots.

Dennis Cramm said he took an SKS rifle from another youth and ran toward a tree near the front of the property.

"I was going up there and if they were still shooting I was going to shoot back," he testified.

Bovan was one of several people charged with crimes in connection with the melee. He since pleaded guilty to a charge of a felon possessing a firearm.

The brown Honda with Stoner and Thompson in the back seat had been parked on the road adjacent to the Cramm home. In cross-examination by deputy prosecutor Ed Stemler, Cramm said he aimed the SKS at Bovan, who was partly visible to him over the hood of the car.

"I think it hit the side of the car," Dennis Cramm said of the first shot.

Did all the shots go into the car, Stemler asked?

"I guess," the defendant said. "I was trying to shoot through the back window" at Bovan.

The prosecutor asked if he was just trying to fire though the car to hit Bovan.

Dennis Cramm responded: "Yeah."

After the last of at least 10 shots, the back window shattered, and "I seen a girl with her head down," he said. He also testified he could then see Stoner and Thompson in the back seat, and didn't see blood splattered on back seat passenger windows.

The Honda sped away, and Dennis Cramm leaped into a friend's car, throwing up. He testified he thought he had shot the girl he'd seen.

Asked when he learned he had killed two people, he said he's not sure.

"I didn't know for sure. I didn't want to know," he said. Does he know now that he is responsible for two deaths, Stemler asked?

"That's what everyone says," Cramm responded.

Lawyers are scheduled to give closing arguments and the jury should get the case on Friday.