PUYALLUP, Wash. — A Puyallup man admitted killing his son and daughter, telling a Pierce County superior court judge the two had turned the family home into a living hell.
“I cry for my children, my wife,” Michael League wept as he pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder.
League, 69, shot and killed his son Dennis, 46, and daughter Daniella Faucett, 43, in March of last year. Family members told the court the two put their father and mother through years of physical abuse, constantly stealing money and prescription medications from the couple.
After returning from an out-of-town trip to Ocean Shores last March the Leagues returned to find the brother and sister had a violent altercation. League said he snapped and shot them both in the head.
“I have asked my son Dennis and my daughter Daniele to forgive me, asked my wife to forgive me, my family. And I feel at peace with that now sir,” League told Judge Garold Johnson.
When League shot his children in March of 2013, he called 911 to confess, saying he was also going to kill himself.
“I had to put them out of their misery,” League told a 911 operator, “to get rid of their demons and now I’m going to have to shoot myself.”
Instead, League waited for police to arrive and surrendered.
Friends and family members spoke on League’s behalf during the hearing telling the judge he had endured years of abuse and had paid for both his son and daughter to go to drug and alcohol rehabilitation treatment numerous times, but the they always returned to drug use and abuse of their parents.
Prosecutors asked for 32 years in prison, but Johnson agreed with the defense request for a much lighter sentence. League was sentence to five years for each murder with the sentences to be served concurrently.
Defense attorney Mary Kay High said with credit for time served in jail and time off for good behavior, League could be released in about three-and-a-half years.