Sister of man murdered in Bellingham encampment tells court: ‘He was somebody’

In powerful statements, family members recounted the life and impact of the loss of a 27-year-old man shot and killed in a homeless tent encampment in north Bellingham in 2021, while simultaneously urging the court last week to sentence the man’s killer to more prison time.

Travis William Hamilton, 41, was sentenced Feb. 26 in Whatcom County Superior Court to six years and three months in prison, with 1.5 years probation for the Sept. 3, 2021 shooting death of 27-year-old Scott Dobson. Hamilton previously pleaded guilty Jan. 25 to one count of second-degree manslaughter.

His charge had been reduced from one count of second-degree murder as part of a plea deal, according to court records.

Dobson’s death was ruled a homicide by the Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office, which determined the gunshot wound Dobson sustained could not have been self-inflicted, The Herald previously reported.

Hamilton also resolved a separate, unrelated criminal case from 2020. He pleaded guilty Jan. 25 to amended charges of third-degree theft for stealing a black wagon used to haul trash from a convenience store’s private dumpster area. The wagon was valued at $300, court documents state. He will serve his sentence for that case at the same time he serves his sentence for the manslaughter case.

Hamilton was given an exceptional sentence above the standard range for the manslaughter conviction. Based on Hamilton’s lack of criminal history and the state’s sentencing guidelines, his standard range sentence was between one year, 10 months and two years, three months in prison.

An exceptional sentence above that range was agreed upon by both the prosecution and defense in exchange for a “significant reduction in the charge” and in the interest of justice, according to Whatcom County senior deputy prosecuting attorney Ben Pratt.

Pratt said that “it was only evidentiary concerns” from the prosecution’s perspective that resulted in the proposed resolution for Hamilton’s case, adding that the resolution was “a long time coming.”

Pratt told the court that Hamilton was the one who called 911 after Dobson was shot, and that initially, it was unclear at the time who had shot Dobson. He said there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting, but that multiple people in the encampment heard the gunshot.

The best evidence the prosecution had was that the rifle that was used to kill Dobson had been moved from where eyewitnesses first saw it following the shooting to when law enforcement arrived, Pratt said. Both Hamilton’s and Dobson’s fingerprints were found on the rifle, along with three unidentified DNA profiles, he said.

While attempting to resolve the case via plea deal or trial, Pratt said several issues arose. The first was a former Bellingham Police Department detective being fired and having a Brady letter issued, which Pratt said he didn’t believe was fatal to the case.

The second was a witness who came forward alleging another man committed Dobson’s murder. That suspect’s DNA was not found on the rifle used to kill Dobson, Pratt said.

But that evidence and information still “presented a unique wrinkle” for prosecutors that could have created a reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors, he said. Ultimately, the evidentiary concerns led to the resolution proposed to the court, Pratt said.

While Hamilton was given an exceptional sentence above the standard range for the manslaughter conviction, Dobson’s family told the court at his sentencing hearing that it was not enough time.

“In order for you to understand the impact that Scott’s death had on my family and I, you need to know Scott beyond his file and understand who he left behind. He may not have had an address, but he was not a forgotten member of society. He was somebody who had family and friends who loved him who hoped he’d be able to find his footing in life. Instead, we are left in our grief and anger,” Rebecca Houston, Dobson’s sister told the court Feb.26.

Protectors

The youngest of four children, and the only boy, Dobson held a special place in the hearts of his family and siblings.

Houston, Dobson’s sister, said from the time Dobson, who was affectionately known as “Scotty”, was little, she and her siblings treated him like the baby of the family — even when he grew taller than them. In 2013, Houston became an aunt after Dobson had a son of his own. Her nephew is 11 years old now, she said.

Houston recounted how she’s become a different person since her brother’s death. She told the court how prior to his murder, she used to be an optimist and believed things would work out for the best, but said now she’s broken and traumatized in ways therapy cannot fix. Children expect to lose their parents at some point in their lives, but not their siblings, she said.

“As a big sister, I feel like the failure. I should have protected him, like how I protected him from bullies on the playground at elementary school. He just wanted to have friends and belong,” she said. “But being shot by someone who claimed to be his friend was something I never could have prepared for or protected him from. It’s the ultimate betrayal of friendship.”

Houston said the day she received the phone call from her father informing her of her brother’s murder is “forever burned” into her memory. She said she knew the call felt different from the moment she picked up the phone. Houston told the court she was hysterical and screamed profanities while her husband comforted her, before she realized her young son was watching, and she went into the bathroom to try to shield her reaction from him.

“I wailed and screamed in our bathroom yelling out ‘no’ like a part of me hoped if I denied it enough, it wouldn’t be true,” Houston said.

But worse than receiving the phone call informing her of her brother’s death was telling their mother, she said. Their mother, who was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease, was in a care home, and at the time, COVID-19 restrictions meant limited in-person visits. Houston said her mother was excited to see her and her sister when they walked in, but that the shock and pain she saw on her mother’s face after she told her of Dobson’s death could not be described in words.

Their mother died shortly after, of what Houston and her siblings said they believe was a broken heart.

“She had survived over 20 years with Huntington’s disease but five months without her baby boy and she was gone. While I cannot hold Travis responsible for her death, the minimum I can do is make sure he’s held accountable for Scott’s. It’s been the only comfort that we have clung to over the last two-and-a-half years,” Houston said.

Directing her attention to Hamilton in the courtroom, Houston told him that she wanted him to see the faces of Dobson’s family members in the flesh. She told Dobson he was the reason the homeless community gets a bad reputation, and the reason resources are hard to come by for unhoused individuals.

“This man’s actions resulted in the death of my brother. Not injury, not disability, death,” Houston told the judge before asking him to sentence Hamilton to the maximum time allowed. “While no amount of time will bring him back, every second that he is behind bars we can breathe a little easier as a family.”

Jocelyn Williams echoed Houston’s statements. The eldest of her siblings, Williams said she met Dobson when he was a baby and she was 17. Because she was the oldest, she said she often “played mommy to him.”

Williams told the court how when she carried Dobson on her hip, she would have to lean to the side, as “he wasn’t a very small baby.”

Several decades later, carrying Dobson’s box of ashes into her house, she said she stopped in her tracks while walking down the hallway. She had noticed how heavy the box was.

“I looked down and I realized that I was holding him on my hip exactly the way I would have held him as a toddler and a baby and I was leaning to keep from dropping the urn. I stood there and cried for a long time, not wanting to put him down, because he was always safe when he was in my arms,” Williams said.

She told the court how the odds were stacked against her brother from birth. He was born via emergency C-section and was oxygen deprived for an unknown amount of time; his father was an alcoholic and his mother was dying from Huntington’s; all things that made Williams worried for her little brother’s future.

She said watching her sister tell Dobson’s mother that he had been murdered was “one of the most heartbreaking experiences” of her life. She too believes Dobson’s mother died of a broken heart, as she was doing well for the stage of the disease she was in and hospice care was not yet being considered.

She also spoke of Dobson’s son, whom she said will grow up and live with the trauma of knowing his father was murdered.

Williams said she didn’t believe Hamilton had taken accountability for Dobson’s death. She knew the pair were friends, and said knowing that Hamilton will have to carry the burden of killing a friend brought her “the tiniest amount of satisfaction.”

“Travis Hamilton did this. He did this to all of us. This was not an accident, he’s admitting this of his own free will,” Williams said before asking the judge “to please hand down the sentence that is deserving of the crime committed and not the social status of the person murdered.”

Directing her statements to Hamilton, Williams told him that she hopes he relives the moment of Dobson’s death every day. “I hope you remember his last words, and I hope you can clearly hear the last guttural breath that he took. I hope that sound wakes you at night,” she said.

“I believe this plea deal is a disgrace to Scotty’s life and I beg of you to give the murderer more time to be served. … It is not justice and he deserves more time in prison,” Williams added.

A victim advocate with the prosecutor’s office also read a statement to the court on behalf of Dobson’s nephew.

Dobson wasn’t in a good place, but was working hard to get out of it, the nephew’s statement said. Dobson and Hamilton could have worked to get out of that place together, but Hamilton “fell too deep and took someone from this earth,” the statement said.

Dobson’s nephew then requested that the next portion of his letter be read directly to Hamilton.

“At the turn of the decade you will walk free. Until then, you will clean yourself up and do better. You will stay a changed man and help make the world a better place every day. That’s what Scotty will want you to do. Never forget that for as long as you live,” the nephew’s statement said.

Treatment

Maialisa Vanyo, chief deputy with the Whatcom County Public Defender’s Office and who recently took over Hamilton’s case in December 2023 after his previous defense attorney left the office, told the court that this was Hamilton’s only felony conviction.

She said Hamilton’s family have supported him throughout his incarceration and were present in the courtroom that day.

Hamilton attended school in the Mount Baker School District and was placed in special education classes throughout all grade levels. He left home at age 17 and has been homeless the majority of his life, Vanyo said.

For much of his life, Hamilton lived in a homeless encampment off Lakeway Drive and another off Samish Way. In 2014, he moved to the woods to the encampment behind Walmart, where he lived until his arrest in early September 2021, Vanyo said.

Hamilton abstained from drugs and alcohol except methamphetamine, which he used daily and became like medicine while he was living at the encampment near Walmart, Vanyo said. Hamilton was known to be peaceful for much of the time he lived in the encampment, she added.

A friend of Hamilton’s, who also previously lived in the encampment near Walmart, told his defense team that he was “the nicest guy” who would give a friend the shirt off his back if needed. Hamilton’s friend said his work ethic was “outstanding” and that he was often building something while he was living in the encampment, Vanyo told the court.

She said Hamilton and Dobson lived next to each other in the encampment near Walmart and would often use methamphetamine together. She also said that Dobson was one of Hamilton’s closest friends, and that Hamilton grieves Dobson’s death. She said Hamilton hopes Dobson’s family knows he “is very sorry for their loss.”

Since his arrest in early September 2021, Vanyo said Hamilton has worked with mental health and medical staff in the Whatcom County Jail to assist in managing symptoms of his mental illnesses. Hamilton has formal diagnoses of major depression, unspecified schizophrenia and anxiety, and received social security disability benefits in 2020 for anxiety and panic disorder, she said.

While incarcerated, Hamilton has been compliant with his medication and has seen a positive response. Vanyo said Hamilton has recognized multiple issues that stemmed from his substance use and untreated mental illnesses, but that “he’s ready to move forward in his life, eager to stay drug free, and maintain sobriety in the community once he’s released.”

She said he will work with community partners to try to find stable housing and mental health treatment after his release from prison. Vanyo asked the judge to follow the recommended prison sentence for Hamilton.

Hamilton declined to speak in court prior to his sentencing.

Consequences

Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Evan Jones told Hamilton prior to sentencing that he hoped Hamilton appreciated the effects his actions had on not only Dobson’s family members, but the community and its sense of security.

“What’s true is exactly what I’ve heard in this court; that regardless or in conjunction with the circumstances, you took a life in this community,” Jones said. “The decisions that you made to take a life are deserving of consequences.”

Jones said he appreciated the negotiations that occurred between the attorneys to reach a resolution in the case, and that he understood the impacts Dobson’s death had on his family.

“No amount of time is going to heal the wounds that Mr. Hamilton created,” Jones said.

Jones told Hamilton that he has serious obligations to recognize his prior behavior and that he had an obligation to himself and the community to make amends for his actions.

“You have obligations to make right what you did,” Jones said, sentencing Hamilton to the agreed sentence of six years, three months in prison.

Following his ruling, Jones addressed Dobson’s family members. He thanked them for sharing snippets of Dobson’s life with him, while acknowledging that providing statements to the court didn’t help their grief. Jones said he could clearly see the effect Dobson had on people, including his family.

“I want you to know how important it was for me to hear about your brother Scott,” Jones said. “I know this is not the result that either of you wanted to see, but me meeting you and me being able to meet Scott was important. So thank you for that.”