A 22-year-old Vancouver man pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder for beating his grandmother to death in 2007.
Daniel P. Marter was scheduled to go to trial next week on charges of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon enhancement, second-degree theft and forgery. But he agreed to plead guilty to murder in exchange for prosecutors dropping the weapon enhancement and other charges, said Senior Deputy Prosecutor John Fairgrieve.
Marter will be sentenced Jan. 6 by Clark County Superior Court Judge Diane Woolard.
Fairgrieve and Marter’s attorneys, Lou Byrd and Michael Foister, plan to recommend a 20-year prison term, the low end of the state’s sentencing range. In Washington, first-degree murder carries between 20 and nearly 27 years in prison.
Marter was arrested the evening of Dec. 18, 2007, after he had earlier brought the body of his grandmother, Maurine E. O’Neal, 63, to Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center.