A decade following the homicide of an 18-year-old autistic man resulting from abuse, the King County Superior Court plans for the resentencing of the man convicted for his death.
On Oct. 6, 2017, the King County Superior Court sentenced 52-year-old Matthew Lee Christenson of Auburn in the abuse and death of the son of a Renton School District special education teacher.
Pascia Backman taught at Lakeridge Elementary in Skyway, prior to her resignation at the end of the 2013-2014 school year. She served as a single mother to a 14-year-old and 18-year-old son.
She met Christenson after placing an ad on Craigslist for male companionship at the end of 2013.
Christenson and his 20-year-old son Jordan moved into Backman’s home by early January 2014, in an apartment complex located in unincorporated Auburn.
Investigation found Christenson abused both of Backman’s sons, including 18-year-old Otto Smith, who was severely disabled, non-verbal and autistic — subjecting both to forced exercise, starvation, beatings, ice baths and more.
On the night of Smith’s death in April 2014, Christenson duct taped a sock into Smith’s mouth and sat and watched as he suffocated to death on the living room floor, according to prosecutorial documents.
A jury trial found Christenson guilty on six counts including homicide by abuse, three counts of assault in the second degree, unlawful imprisonment, and harassment. Judge Chad Allred granted a motion to dismiss a seventh count of murder in the second degree based on double jeopardy grounds at the Oct. 6, 2017, sentencing.
The court sentenced Christenson to 65 years in confinement on the convictions.
Christenson challenged the convictions for assault in the second degree and unlawful imprisonment in the Washington State Court of Appeals following his sentencing. In May 2022, the Court of Appeals vacated one of Christenson’s assault in the second degree convictions on grounds of double jeopardy.
Prosecutors have argued against lowering Christenson’s sentence in his re-sentencing, recommending the court impose the same sentence of 65 years as a result of the seriousness of the crimes.
Prosecutors argued Christenson inflicted physical abuse with a frequency and severity that elevated the seriousness of his actions beyond the normal associations of the charge, and additionally inflicted psychological and emotional abuse against Smith, demonstrating deliberate cruelty.
”The defendant employed every tactic against this vulnerable boy to break him emotionally and physically,” prosecutors stated in a memorandum for Christenson’s resentencing. “It wasn’t long before [Pascia’s sons] realized that [she] was not going to protect them. … While he was unable to express it, this likely caused the deepest psychological and emotional pain for Otto.”
In an Oct. 24 hearing, Judge Hillary Madsen disqualified herself from the case, with Judge Angela Kaake taking over further matters regarding resentencing.
Christenson continues to await his resentencing as of November 2024, as presentencing proceedings have resulted in continuances to his sentencing dates.
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