Man gets almost 3.5 years for manslaughter

EPHRATA - 66-year-old Arnulfo Bravo sat quietly during his sentencing hearing in Grant County Superior Court Tuesday morning. Seated between his attorney and an interpreter, the man who has been convicted of manslaughter in the 1991 death of Moses Lake resident Barbara J. Kipp showed little to no emotion or remorse as Kipp’s family members addressed the court.

“I have both dreamed and dreaded this day. I dreamed that I would get the chance to confront the monster who took my mom’s life, but dreaded being in the same room with anyone that could do such a horrific act,” Kristi Rambo, Kipp’s daughter, told the court while choking back tears. “It is virtually impossible to express the words and the pain I have gone through the last 27 years. I will continue to experience this the rest of my life.”

Bravo sat calmly in his seat as Rambo read her tearful statement a few feet to his left. The only sound that could be heard from the defendant was the occasional repositioning in his chair, which would produce a slight rattling of the chains/ankle shackles that were firmly fastened to his ankles.

“Every happy moment in my life has a black cloud hanging over it because my mom isn’t apart of it,” Rambo explained.

Bravo, who chose not to speak on Tuesday, was on the run for over two decades after Kipp’s death until his November 2016 arrest in Texas in the Fort Worth area. He was transported back to Grant County and subsequently charged in Grant County Superior Court. He opted for a jury trial and was convicted of first-degree manslaughter in March. The jury found the defendant not guilty of the more serious crime of second-degree murder.

There was some discussion between the prosecution and defense Tuesday morning with regard to Bravo’s offender score and the standard sentencing range for the manslaughter conviction, with Judge David Estudillo ruling he has an offender score of zero and the range is 31-41 months. The prosecution requested a sentence at the high end of the range.

“This case I think resulted in an injustice. I think the best the court can do is a high end sentence, but I don’t think that’s enough,” Deputy Prosecutor Kevin McCrae firmly stated. “Mr. Bravo lived his life. He took Barbara Kipp’s. He didn’t care. He knew that he needed to come back and face the music to give the family closure, but he refused to do that.”

Defense attorney Michael Morgan offered his condolences to Kipp’s family and said he hopes they can find some sense of closure now that the case has come to an end. Morgan requested a mid-range sentence for his client, stating Bravo has been crime free for over two decades and he is in poor health.

“I can’t ignore the fact that Mr. Bravo for 25 years did try and flee. And the testimony from (a witness) made it very clear he (Bravo) was a productive member of society,” Morgan offered.

Estudillo sided with the prosecution and sentenced Bravo to 41 months, just under 3.5 years, in prison. The judge was well aware that no sentence he imposes can bring back Kipp, but he told her family he hopes they can continue to honor her memory. Estudillo was a little more direct to Bravo, noting that on the night Kipp died Bravo knew, to some extent, that she was unconscious.

“You left her and she was alone and it took some time for Ms. Kipp to pass and she likely suffered,” Estudillo told Bravo. “You know what happened that evening, yet for approximately 25 years you disappeared.”

Kipp was found dead in her residence on South Adams Street on Oct. 1, 1991, by her roommate. Court documents relay several instances of the people associated with Kipp telling police she was planning on breaking up with Bravo before she died. Kipp told at least one person that Bravo threatened to kill her “if anything came between them.” During the trial prosecutors offered evidence that Kipp’s cause of death was strangulation.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.