'He loved helping people': Brother of slain cop testifies at killer's penalty hearing
SEATTLE -- Jurors are now deciding if convicted cop killer Christopher Monfort will get the death penalty or life in prison.
On June 5, the same King County Superior Court jury convicted Monfort of murder in the death of Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton.
On the first day of the penalty phase of the trial, jurors heard from Brenton’s brother, Matt Brenton.
“It’s hard to put in words the impact it’s really had,” Matt Brenton said of the "devastating" loss of his brother, who was also a husband and father to two small children.
Although Matt and Tim’s father was also a police officer, Matt told the jurors Tim saw law enforcement as a calling.
“He loved the work,” sad Brenton. “He loved helping people.”
Prosecutors say Tim Brenton was training a new officer, Britt Sweeney, on Halloween night 2009, when they were ambushed by Monfort.
“He drove around town looking for prey,” said deputy prosecutor John Castleton. “Unfortunately for Timothy Brenton and Britt Sweeney, he found that prey.”
Sweeney survived the shooting; Brenton died instantly.
“You may feel anger at the death that he caused, and anger is OK, but revenge is not,” said Monfort’s attorney, Stacy MacDonald.
She is hoping the jury will forgo the death penalty and sentence Monfort to life in prison.
Monfort’s defense team plans to call 47 witnesses to testify on his behalf in the next several weeks.
The prosecution is only allowed one witness in the penalty phase, and they chose Matt Brenton.