Leland Russell Gets 63yrs For Wanting To Be The Most Dangerous Gangster In King County Washington

[CbabyRKO]

In a recorded phone call from the jail at the Maleng Regional Justice Center, Leland Russell Jr. asked his wife how it felt to be married to the most dangerous man in King County, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Karissa Taylor said Friday.

In other calls the self-proclaimed “gangster” made to his wife, he openly mocked witnesses who testified at his trial before a jury found him guilty in August of killing two employees at a Kent gas station and threatening a motorist with a handgun, Taylor told Superior Court Judge Veronica Alicea Galván.

Taylor, speaking before Russell, 32, was sentenced for the killings, said he has never shown any remorse for killing employees David Christianson and Carlos Gonzales in August 2014.

“This is a case where two men were going about their day, doing their jobs. It was not a drug deal gone bad or a bar fight” in which the victims’ actions might have changed the course of events, Taylor said. “They lost their lives in a senseless and needless fashion.”

Galván, who sentenced Russell to 63 years in prison, said she didn’t understand why he chose to glamorize a gang lifestyle that too many others are born into. Unlike other defendants, Russell was raised by a loving family and “had opportunities at your feet.”

“I don’t know what you thought was wonderful about it,” the judge said. “The actions that you took in this case, the whole day, were done for the whole purpose of a thrill, to make you feel like somebody.”



Russell apologized for the pain he’s caused the families of Christianson and Gonzales.

Those families packed Galván’s courtroom in Kent, many wearing orange T-shirts with a photo of Gonzales on the front.

When a woman honked at Russell in traffic on the morning of Aug. 20, 2014, he pulled out a handgun, chasing her as she put her car in reverse and frantically backed away.

Ninety minutes later, the rude, combative behavior of Russell and a friend prompted an angry exchange with customers and employees at a Kent gas station. After tempers flared and a fight erupted, Russell again pulled out a handgun, killing Christianson, 52, and Gonzales, 26, in what police called an execution.

The Burien man was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder with firearm enhancements and second-degree assault for threatening the driver earlier in the day.

[...]

Kelsey Christianson said her father was excited when she had told him she was moving back to Seattle to attend law school. He was killed weeks before she was to arrive.

“I don’t think Mr. Russell should ever be out of jail,” Christianson said. “It took him a matter of seconds to decide my father’s life wasn’t worth living anymore.”

Russell, who had gone with a friend to the Shell station at 6331 S. 212th St. to fill a gas can, was “intent on creating a situation where he could use his gun,”Senior Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Berliner wrote in charging documents. Berliner said he killed the victims because of his “inexplicable desire to act like a ‘gangster.’ ”

Surveillance footage showed Russell and his passenger arriving at the Shell station at 8:20 a.m. After exchanging “angry words” with customers and an employee inside the store, the passenger shoved Gonzales, starting a fight, charging papers say. Christianson tried to break up the fight as Russell ran to his vehicle and returned with a gun, they say.

He then shot the two unarmed men.

According to the documents, after his arrest, Russell told detectives the two victims “finally came across some real gangsters, sad to say.”

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Just saying, he would be better off used as a human guinea pig or something equally as unpleasant. What do you mean my tax money has to feed and house this idiot for the next 63 years? I'd at least like to get something extra thrown in. Maybe a weekly beating or something.

 

[Muriel Schwenck]

He didn't even take money or cars or kill for a vendetta, he just shot them for the thrill? That's hardly gangster. I thought a real gangster got something out of it besides kicks. He's a fake.
@CbabyRKO, if he's this dumb he might be murdered by an inmate (hopefully a lifer) and we won't have to pay so much for his incarceration.

 

[Prettypink513]

Who tf he think he is? Vanilla ice? Ole half ass gangsta. Fake ass B Rad. Ole "traffic, traffic lookin for my Chapstick" face ass. America's least wanted ass. Imitation 8 mile. Eminem with glitter lookin ass. Ole "I snort Tylenol to get high" lookin ass. Ole private school gangsta. He was the toughest in the drama club. Ole "I get picked on by little girls" lookin ass. Fuck his sleepy sea slug lookin ass. I hope they beat the brakes off dude.

 

[Doctor Slaughter]

Ooooh a trigger happy moron with no value for innocent life! I always wanted one of those! Jethro..please hand me my scalpel..I need to see how his vitals work..without anesthetic of course. Now...to commence with unnecessary and barbaric, but oh so fun full body surgery. Ah thanks Jethro... This scalpel is my favorite..

 

[sarahdownunder]

Methinks his 'apology' was written about and for the Judge and any potential chance at leniency. Given the way he is pictured standing there holding his precious apology, it looks like he's having a tough time reading it. And not from emotion. What a waste of potential given the life his parent's gave him.

All these tough wanker's strutting around with their guns, finding it so easy to be 'gangsta' and slaughter innocent people. I always wonder that if you replaced the gun with their bare hands - would they still be capable of doling out death? Or would that make it too real for them? After all, its just too easy to point a hunk of metal at someone from a distance and pull a trigger.

There isn't any toughness in that.

Now he's got 63 years of hanging with some 'real' OG's. My bet is that he pisses his little orange pajamas and begs for PC within a few days.