Seatlle, WA: Man sentenced to prison for killing woman in his apartment

John de Leon
-- From Times staff reporter Jennifer Sullivan:

A Seattle man who stabbed a woman 14 times and beat her inside his South Seattle apartment more than two years ago was sentenced this morning to more than 16 years in prison.

Tuan Quach, 37, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with a deadly weapon last month just days before his trial on a charge of first-degree murder was set to begin in King County Superior Court. Quach admitted killing 42-year-old Jennifer Lehtinen in his Seattle apartment.

"No matter what I or my family have been through, it all pales in comparison to what Jennifer's family has been through," Quach said in court this morning.

Seattle police were called to Quach's apartment on May 1, 2007, after neighbors said they heard a woman screaming, a police report said. Officers found Quach covered in blood and Lehtinen's naked body, prosecutors said.

Police say Quach had picked up Lehtinen at a gas station known to be frequented by prostitutes.