Cramm loses gun collection

By Scott North

Herald Writer

A convicted felon's attempt to spare his gun collection from destruction on sentimental grounds was shot down Friday by a Snohomish County judge.

The 11 rifles and shotguns were seized during a search of Dale Cramm's former home in May 2000, immediately after his son, Dennis Cramm, 18, fatally shot two teen-agers during a fistfight that turned into a gunbattle.

A search of the Cramm home also turned up illegal drugs. That triggered a state law allowing Snohomish County prosecutors to seek forfeiture and destruction of the weapons.

"Our position was simple: How can you possibly give weapons back to these people?" deputy prosecutor John Adcock said.

Dale Cramm, 45, is barred from owning firearms because he was convicted of drug-related felonies after the shooting. But he lives with relatives who asked Superior Court Judge Joseph Thibodeau to exercise discretion and let them have about half of the weapons.

The Cramms' attorney, Brian Phillips of Everett, told Thibodeau that some of the weapons were gifts or had been worked on by Dale Cramm's grandfather, who was a gunsmith. One of the guns seized is owned by the man's brother.

Cramm's family members can legally own firearms, and understand that he no longer has that right. Phillips said there is no reason not to trust them to obey the law.

"If we don't believe people are going to act in good faith in our society, then where are we as a society?" the lawyer asked.

Thibodeau said he had to look at the totality of the case. There were a significant number of weapons seized from Dale Cramm's home, people died because of crime there, and there is nothing the court can do to ensure that his weapons won't somehow wind up in his control in the future, the judge said.

He ordered the firearms destroyed. None of the guns ordered destroyed were fired during the killings of Jason Thompson and Jesse Stoner, both 18. The murder weapon, a military-style SKS semiautomatic rifle, as well as several other weapons, were used as evidence in Dennis Cramm's first-degree murder trial. They must be kept while the conviction is under appeal, but eventually will be destroyed, Adcock said.

Dale Cramm is in jail, awaiting a July 20 trial for allegedly trying to buy methamphetamine from an undercover police officer. He's also serving time for violating conditions of his earlier drug-related sentence. His son is serving 60 years in prison.