A Pierce County judge rejected the terms of a lenient plea deal for confessed killer Joshua Ellis, instead sentencing him on Friday to 15 years in prison and three years of supervised release.
"Mr. Ellis has destroyed a life. He's traumatized a family ... it is damage that will ripple for generations," Judge André M. Peñalver said, fighting back tears.
Peñalver said a recommended sentence of just over 10 years was "not sufficient" to account for Ellis' decision to murder his ex-girlfriend inside her Milton apartment in 2017.
"I must also consider the punitive purpose of sentencing, to impose a sentence that reflects the seriousness of the offense – which is the murder of Wendi Traynor."
The sentence marks the end to a long and, at times, emotionally devastating legal saga for Wendi's family and friends – one that raises larger questions about the state of Washington's criminal justice system and how attitudes around race and equity are inserting themselves into every aspect of the accountability process.
In 2019, a jury convicted Ellis of shooting and killing Wendi Traynor, not long after the two ended their relationship. Wendi had only recently returned to Washington state from Kentucky, where she moved with Ellis so he could be closer to his family. It is unclear whether Ellis followed her back in hopes of reconciling, or with the intent to take her life.
After his first trial ended in a conviction for second-degree murder, Judge James Orlando sentenced Ellis to more than 20 years in prison – the maximum allowed by law.
“The autopsy pictures from Wendi's case will haunt me,” Judge Orlando told Ellis. “You didn't do anything that deserves anything other than the high end.”
But justice for Wendi was short lived.
Ellis' conviction was later thrown out by the Washington State Court of Appeals, which cited prosecutorial misconduct during jury selection. Rather than take the case back to trial, prosecutors reached a deal with Ellis' defense team. In exchange for pleading guilty, Ellis would avoid a 60-month firearm enhancement and get the lowest sentence allowed under state guidelines.
Wendi's family felt blindsided by the deal, which Pierce County prosecutors did not consult them about beforehand.
Read our previous coverage of this case here.During Friday's hearing, Wendi's family members pleaded with Judge Peñalver to set the terms of the deal aside in the interest of justice. Under Washington state law, judges have ultimate discretion at sentencing – and are not bound by deals or recommendations brought before the court.
For her part, public defender Mary K. High urged the court to accept the terms of the deal. She presented the court with several witnesses who testified that they would support Ellis following release. High also revisited arguments made in a pre-sentencing memorandum, suggesting Ellis' skin color should be taken into consideration.
"Offender race has led to the correlation in our judicial systems that we place more value on the lives of whites, resulting in disproportionally harsh treatment of black offenders who have white victims," she said.
Ellis is black. Wendi was white.
Judge Peñalver, who has personally advocated for criminal justice reform, said race plays a role in his job as a jurist – but not in the way the defense argument might suggest.
"While it is frustrating to have to address race, I do think it is a necessary exercise," he said during the hearing. "It is important to address racism when it arises so we can dispose of it and then turn our focus to the case at hand."
unDivided published an op-ed in the Tacoma News Tribune ahead of Friday's hearing, advocating against the defense’s arguments. You can read it here.Ultimately, Peñalver's sentence fell far short of the 280 months Ellis received in 2019. Still, it is a five-year increase from the plea deal and a small, but welcome victory for Wendi's family.
"I'm happy with the outcome," Wendi's mother, Tammi Anderson Black, said after sentencing. "But it's never going to be enough, not for the entire life of a young woman."
