Man who struck, killed great-grandmother on Spokane sidewalk sentenced to prison

A man will spend more than four years in prison for striking and killing a great-grandmother with the SUV he was driving last summer.

Marla Langley, 68, was pushing her great-grandson in a stroller along North Ruby Street when Brandon Pratt veered the SUV onto the sidewalk, striking her and narrowly missing her great-grandson.

As part of a deal with prosecutors, Pratt pleaded guilty to one count of vehicular homicide Monday morning in Spokane County Superior Court. Judge James Triplet sentenced him to 51 months in prison and ordered him to reimburse the state for the cost of Langley’s funeral, about $4,570.

The standard sentencing range for that charge in Washington is only 21-27 months, but the defense and prosecution agreed to add two years because he was under the influence of the synthetic drug known as “spice.”

Reading a letter to a courtroom full of Langley’s friends and relatives, Pratt, who was 34 at the time of the crash, repeatedly said he’s “truly sorry” for her death.

“I try to wrap my mind around it, the pain that I have brought to the Langley family,” Pratt said. “If I had the chance to take this back, I’d trade my life for hers in a heartbeat.”

On July 28, Pratt was driving his friend’s Ford Explorer and swerved to avoid an STA bus that was making a stop near the intersection with Augusta Avenue. The SUV struck Langley as it went across the sidewalk and into a parking lot, where it slammed into a row of vehicles.

Langley’s family believes she plucked 2-year-old Jamieson from his stroller and tossed him out of harm’s way. He was swept up by a bystander and survived with cuts and scrapes. She was pronounced dead less than an hour later at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.

“She saved Jamieson’s life,” Triplet said before handing down Pratt’s sentence.

The judge also said that, even with the two-year extension on Pratt’s sentence, the maximum sentence he could give under state law is “wholly inadequate.”

“The only thing I hope to give to the Langley family is closure,” Triplet said. “This chapter is closed. I don’t think I can give you much more than that.”

Questioned at the scene of the crash, Pratt told Spokane police officers he had smoked marijuana earlier in the day and taken a hit of spice, but neither drug was detected in a sample of his blood.

Pratt has a previous DUI conviction that could have resulted in a two-year sentence enhancement for the vehicular homicide charge. But rather than let a jury decide, the parties agreed to make their cases to the judge.

Although Pratt pleaded not guilty in August, on Monday he admitted he was under the influence at the time of the crash and accepted the longer sentence.

“From the moment I met him, he was tremendously remorseful,” defense attorney Chris Bugbee said of Pratt. “He wanted nothing but to tell you he was responsible for this. He was upset at the harm he had done.”

According to court records, Pratt returned from working as a fisherman in Alaska the week before the crash and was living at Sun Ray Court, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center on South Browne Street. Pratt has lived in Spokane for most of his life and at Sun Ray Court once before, court records say.

He has a 21-year criminal history that includes car thefts, drugs, reckless driving, driving under the influence, robbery, assault, reckless endangerment and weapons charges.

No charges were filed against Johnny Dolen, who owned the Explorer and was a passenger at the time of the crash.

Chellsea Langley, who is Jamieson’s mother and Marla Langley’s granddaughter, said the incident left her traumatized.

“This happened right outside of my home, and I have to walk by it every day,” she said. “I think about her every day.”