Bergman given 15 years in prison

A Moses Lake man has been sentenced in the September murder of his wife near Edwall.

Charles R. Bergman, 55, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years in prison in Lincoln County Superior Court on Tuesday, May 30. He was also sentenced to three years of community custody after his prison sentence by Judge Jeffrey S. Barkdull.

Bergman was originally charged with first-degree murder, after being extradited from Pennsylvania to Lincoln County by U.S. Marshals, but the charge was reduced to a second-degree after a plea agreement was reached.

Theresa Bergman's body was found by a farmer Thursday, Sept. 22, off Stolp Road.

"I only wanted to say how sorry I am for what I've done," Bergman tearfully told Theresa Bergman's family in court May 30. "Theresa was somebody that was very precious to everyone here, and I only wish I could get her back.

"No matter how long I live, there will never be a day when I don't feel remorse. I'm sorry."

Charge reduced

Prosecuting Attorney Adam Walser said Tuesday that if the case had gone to trial, the first-degree charge likely would've been reduced to a second-degree by a jury due to the lack of evidence of premeditation by Bergman without a confession from the defendant.

"The victim had very recently traveled out-of-state to meet with a former boyfriend," Walser said. "The communication between the victim and the defendant in this matter indicated that the defendant was extremely upset by this and the victim, to a certain extent, exacerbated that aggravated nature and anger in the defendant.

"The victim almost sort of encouraged anger on behalf of the defendant."

Walser also said the state considered Bergman's age, saying he is likely to die in prison.

"He's not of good health," he said. "A 15-year sentence is likely to be a life. Time spent in the Department of Corrections is not an easy life for anyone.

"It's especially not an easy life for someone who's advanced in years and of compromised health."

He also said Bergman has no criminal history aside from some misdemeanors 20-30 years ago and that the likelihood of a re-offense if and when he gets out of prison after his 70th birthday is "next to zero."

Charles and Theresa Bergman's daughter, Amanda Bergman, saw it differently.

"My mom doesn't get to go on with her life, and at no point should Charles get to go on with his," she said. "My father has no ambition and in my mother's words, is living to die.

He spends all his time either drunk beyond reason or rooted to his bed with murder documentaries on the television ... he is truly a hateful man."

Amanda Bergman pleaded the court to sentence her father on a first-degree murder charge, which would carry a sharper sentence.

"The crime my father committed was so plainly a premeditated murder that it is an insult to my mother and to myself that he be convicted of anything less than murder in the first-degree," she said. "He should face the full consequences for the unforgiveable act of erasing the love from the world that was Theresa Bergman."

Charles and Theresa Bergman's son, Seth Bergman disagreed, asking that his father be given a sentence lighter than 15 years.

"I will never forgive, nor forget, what he's done," he said. "But fundamentally and truly, I believe that it is wrong to speaking in terms of doling out death sentences. In 10 years, he'll be on the brink of lacking motor skills and function due to his current health.

"It is difficult to process the difference between losing a mother, losing a father and both... I would request that he gets the 13-year minimum."

Public defense attorney Dave Hearrean said Bergman regularly expresses remorse for killing his wife.

"This was something that he never wanted to do," Hearrean said. "In fact, he snapped, and that's all. he just snapped. He regrets that so much.

"He knows he'll probably die in prison because he's not in good health, but he wants the family to know how sorry he is and he asks for their forgiveness."

Barkdull said he was "duly bound" to go along with the plea agreement.