By C.T. BOWEN, Pasco Times Editor of Editorials
Published October 9, 2005
It took more than a half-dozen years for Kristina Gaime to become concerned about her child's well-being.
The result of her newfound maternal instincts is a favorable plea bargain that could see her released from state prison in less than 12 years for killing her 6-year-old son, Mathew Rotell, and trying to do the same to his older brother, Adam.
"She understands this is in the best interests of her and the surviving member of the family," Gaime's attorney, Lyann Goudie, said Wednesday evening as her client pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder for the 1999 murder-suicide attempt gone awry.
It might be the first time Gaime considered the best interests of her surviving son, Adam, now 14.
He was poised to testify against his mother and presented the biggest obstacle to Gaime's successful defense. The plea deal avoids the need for the teenager to relive on the witness stand the hours leading to his brother's death.
Adam's testimony was key to the prosecution's case because the most damaging evidence against Gaime, including the hose used to carry fumes from the muffler to the interior of the family minivan and suicide notes she penned, had been tossed after courts ruled Pasco sheriff's detectives overstepped their search-warrant boundaries during the investigation at Gaime's townhome in Land O'Lakes.
It was there on April 12, 1999, that Gaime's mother found Mathew dead in the family van and Adam and his mother inside the home. Gaime had drugged the children with morphine and then tried to kill them and herself with carbon monoxide. Investigators believe Adam survived after vomiting the narcotic. Gaime was found semi-conscious on a sofa with burns on her lower body.
Gaime, involved in a vicious custody battle with her ex-husband, had spelled out her plot in one of the notes: "First, I medicated the boys and then I started the car and stuffed up the exhaust pipe and then put a hose from the exhaust into the car . . . May God forgive me."
There is little argument that Gaime is getting off easy. Her 20-year state prison sentence will be reduced immediately as she is credited with time served for the 61/2 years spent in the Pasco County jail awaiting trial. With good behavior, she needs only to serve 85 percent of her sentence, which would put her release 11 years away.
The community, stunned by the Mathew's death and his mother's subsequent arrest, may wonder if the punishment fits the crime. Good question.
Gaime is mentally ill, saying in court she had been diagnosed with depression, anxiety and bipolar disorders. If she is considered a threat, it likely would be to herself only.
She pleaded guilty under the legal term of plea of convenience. She did not challenge the facts of the case. She did not address the court when asked if she had anything to say.
A show of remorse for snuffing out the life of her own child would have been a welcome signal that she understood the gravity of her crime. Instead, we are left with unsavory speculation from her attorney about the eventual outcome of a trial if the defense had proceeded with its red herring theory that an intruder was responsible for the death of Mathew.
In the end, the decision was blessed by the Rotells. Ex-husband Stephen left the determination up to Adam. He would have final say on whether to accept the plea agreement negotiated by prosecutors to spare him from testifying.
Adam acquiesced, but, as Times staff writer Jamal Thalji reported, there were a couple of conditions - including no more contact between Adam and his mother.
"I wish that you have no contact with him ever," Stephen Rotell told the court, and "and he wishes it also."
Circuit Judge Lynn Tepper agreed and included it in her sentencing order. Put another way, Kristina Gaime is dead to her ex-husband and surviving son.
It means justice prevailed to the people for whom it mattered most.
