Sentence handed down for murder of Butte farmer

PALMER — A man convicted of hacking an elderly man to death with a machete will spend at least three decades behind bars.

A jury convicted Thomas Cottam, Jr., 25, of first-degree murder in November 2015. Cottam stood accused of killing Butte berry farmer Steven Garcia, 81, in May 2014. Evidence presented at trial detailed a brutal killing, with multiple blows to Garcia’s head and damage to his brain.

Presiding Judge Vanessa White issued the sentence May 20, after about an hour of testimony and a brief break to allow family members of the victim and convicted killer to collect themselves.

“Recognizing that nothing I do will bring Mr. Garcia back, and nothing I do will give the Cottam’s back their son, I sentence Mr. Cottam,” she said.

White gave Cottam a 60-year sentence with 15 years suspended and 10 years felony probation. With good time reductions, Cottam would serve about 30 years.

White said she was relying on lack of a past criminal history, and the presence of a large support network in fashioning her sentence.

“All Mr. Cottam has going for him is a lack of a violent criminal history, she said. “That’s not nothing. That’s something.”

Cottam did not testify at his trial, and the defense called no witnesses, instead relying on cross-examination of prosecution witnesses to make their case.

According to court documents, Cottam told authorities he awoke from a blackout to find himself standing over Garcia’s body with a machete in hand. Palmer District Attorney Roman Kalytiak argued notes in Cottam’s posession hinted the murder was done to gain notoriety. Cottam claimed to have been clean of methamphetamine use for six weeks before the killing. White suggested at one point during the sentencing the murder may have taken place during a drug-induced psychosis. Ultimately, court officials may never know, though White at one point directly asked public defender Bruce Brown to explain.

“I want to understand how this young man, who all of his friends and family have described as raised right, a somewhat shy young man, accomplished in terms of community service through Boy Scouts, et cetera, on an adventure of self-discovery here in Alaska, how this happened with that young man,” she said. “The jury rejected self-defense relatively quickly. So what happened?”

Brown did not attempt to explain the murder, but instead attempted to explain conflicting statements Cottam gave to police, then said no one could compel Cottam to speak.

“He has a constitutional right not to say anything,” Brown said.

“He does, but what I’m struggling with is prospects for rehabilitation,” White responded. “I have a bit of a vacuum here, and I’m struggling with what to do about rehabilitation given that vacuum. I don’t know what to rehabilitate, Mr. Brown.”

Character statement letters — about 20 letters of support from family and friends in Tennessee — and the large amount of books Cottam owned were evidence of his possible rehabilitation, Brown said. Brown asked for 20 years with five years suspended.

“He’ll probably spend the next 20 years reading books, cooking in the facility, doing work in the facility,” Brown said. “He doesn’t have the mindset of a convict. He’s not a repeat offender.”

Kalytiak was critical of the sentence.

“To say I’m disappointed with the sentence would be an understatement,” he wrote in an email to the Frontiersman. “In fact, this is by far the lowest sentence I’ve ever received on a Murder 1 case, and I’ve done many of them in 29 years as a prosecutor.”

The sentence was light compared to other recent murder convictions, like the 75-year sentence issued to Joshua Almeda, accused of killing Breanna Moore in Anchorage, Kalytiak said. Prosecutors had asked for a 90-year sentence, which, with good time reductions, could have amounted to 60 years in prison.

“Cottam can get out in 30 years or less for this horrific crime,” he wrote. “Judge White had the last word in this case, and completely owns this sentence.”

Garcia’s son, Theodore Garcia, delivered a victim impact statement on behalf of the Garcia family. In the ensuing years since the murder, the family was healing, even as doubt and horror persisted, Theodore Garcia said.

“As we moved on, working the farm with the family has strengthened us, and we continue doing this in his absence, searching for healing and honoring his livelihood,” he said.

Cottam’s family members questioned whether he had received a fair trial, and said Cottam wasn’t adequately defended at trial. Martha Cottam, Thomas’s mother, said the image presented at trial clashed with their recollections of their son.

“As his mother, I know that Michael did not plan and intentionally kill Mr. Garcia,” she said.

Cottam apologized in his allocution, but did not offer an explanation of his actions, and instead said the prosecution had unfairly pilloried him. His testimony was the truth, even if no one believed it, Cottam said.

“I’m not the homeless sociopathic driver I’ve been portrayed to be,” he said.

Some things would persist, even in prison, Cottam said.

“Today, my freedom is going to be taken, but no one can ever take away my faith, hope, and my love,” he said.

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.