American man of Washington sentenced to ten years in prison for raping ang killing her own disabled sister 

Michael Battersby raped and murdered her own sister Diana Schuler in Kitsap county in 2020

By Edward Era Barbacena 

Michael Battersby, 55, accused in June 2020 of raping and killing his sister who he lived with at a Seabeck residence, was sentenced on Monday to a little more than ten years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a count of first-degree manslaughter and a count of second-degree rape in Kitsap County Superior Court last month as part of a plea agreement.

In a letter to Judge Melissa Hemstreet read aloud during Battersby’s sentencing hearing on Monday, one of the daughters of the victim, Diana Schuler, wrote on behalf of herself and her sister of the hardships their mother had gone through in life, noting, "It is a hard pill to swallow, knowing that Michael, the very person my mother trusted wholeheartedly with her life, took advantage of her vulnerabilities and past traumas. His actions have left us with a void that can never be filled.”

The women added: “While we find some solace in knowing she is now in a better place, the need for justice remains. No one deserves to end their life in such a harrowing manner, and our mother, who carried the scars of a lifetime of suffering, deserves to have justice served on her behalf.”

Deputy prosecuting attorney Jennifer Koo told Hemstreet that while prosecutors in this case did not doubt the work of Dr. Megan Quinn, a pathologist with the then-Kitsap County Coroner’s Office who in 2020 conducted an autopsy on Schuler's body, the “thoroughness” of Quinn’s work had been called into question in other counties in the state, which Koo said would have created credibility problems at a trial.

“I think that given the fact that this case, this was definitely a triable case for both the state and the defense, but it was also risky too,” Koo said. “The defendant would have been risking a (first-degree murder) conviction, and for the state, we would be risking not getting any justice for Diana Schuler. After months of negotiations, the defendant finally pled guilty to (first-degree murder and second-degree rape charges) on Oct. 2.”

She added: “The state believes that this is a fair recommendation given the issues with Dr. Quinn at trial. While it’s not a (first-degree murder) conviction, the defendant is taking responsibility for the death and rape of his sister, Diana Schuler.”

Both sides agreed to a joint recommendation of a sentence of 125 months in prison, which Hemstreet handed down Monday.

Kitsap County sheriff’s deputies were initially brought to the shared residence of the siblings on Indian Ridge Drive for a CPR in progress call on June 7, 2020. First responders declared Schuler dead at the scene. Battersby reported that Schuler had wanted to take a hot bath, and he said that when he returned home from running errands, he found her fully submerged in a tub, according to court documents.

Initially, deputies thought the death was accidental, but when a deputy went into the woman’s room, he found instant messages visible on a computer screen in which she said she had been raped by her brother, according to court documents.

Bruising was found on the woman’s arms, torso and right inner thigh. Battersby was interviewed, and he said the two had been drinking the previous night and said that bruises on both of their arms came from playing “pattycake” at “full force.” In a subsequent interview, the man admitted, “I guess I did rape her,” according to court documents.

Quinn, the pathologist, performed an autopsy and ruled Schuler's cause of death to be strangulation with asphyxiation and drowning, according to court documents, which note that she also reported blunt force trauma to the back of Schuler's neck, as well as bruising and other injuries.

Eric Fong, Battersby’s defense attorney, told Hemstreet that Battersby had raped his sister, but said he believed, and thought a jury would agree, that “the science proves that he did not murder her,” pointing to three “telltale signs” of a strangulation that he said were missing in Schuler.

“Mr. Battersby is sorry for what he has become and what he did," Fong said. "He prays for healing in those he has hurt, and he will seek redemption and help for alcohol abuse and sexual deviancy, your honor."