Man gets life for killing in suicide try
A Brooklyn CLEVELAND — man was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for a Valentine’s Day 2016 suicide attempt that ended with him killing a 20-year-old college student.
Julie Coates, the mother of Kayla Coates, asked that Mark Rafter be made to view a photograph of her daughter every day he is behind bars to remind him of the then-Baldwin Wallace University sophomore’s beauty and humor.
Judge Dick Ambrose suggested that Rafter take the photograph to prison and view it each Valentine’s Day, as he sentenced the 50-yearold to life in prison with his first chance at parole after 20 years.
Jurors on Wednesday convicted Rafter of aggravated murder after deliberating for less than four hours, following three days of trial testimony.
Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Blaise Thomas asked Ambrose to give Rafter his first shot at parole in 25 years, instead of the minimum 20.
“He has sentenced them to a lifetime of pain,” he said.
Rafter killed Coates when he crashed into her car on Valentines Day 2016. He got onto the highway in his son’s 2005 Ford F-150, and called him to say goodbye, Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Blaise Thomas said during opening statements.
Data pulled from the truck showed that he drove it at full-throttle for 25 seconds, reaching speeds of nearly 100 mph.
Investigators believe that Coates saw the headlights of Rafter’s vehicle barreling toward her and jerked the wheel in a last-ditch effort to avoid the crash. She dodged a full head-on collision, but the two vehicles collided with the combined force of a car going 150 mph striking a wall, Thomas said.
The force of the truck nearly ripped Coates’ car in half, and killed her instantly.
Coates was driving to her job at McDonalds.
Rafter, who had a history of mental illness, began making suicidal statements in the weeks leading up to the crash, trial testimony showed.
He threatened to kill himself by ramming his truck into a wall, prosecutors said.
Rafter stood from his wheelchair and apologized to Coates’ family for taking her life instead of his. He said he never meant to hurt anybody else.
“If I could take it back, I would, but I can’t,” he said.
Coates’ grandmother, Cathy Coates, said no apology would bring her granddaughter back, and questioned why Rafter chose a method that endangered the life of another person.
“Suicide is a horrible, horrible thing,” she said. “Nothing will ever bring her back to us.”