Golden Gardens predator sentenced, but ‘fight is not over’

Gary Steiner cried when he was sentenced to three years in prison last week. He asked the judge for the maximum penalty, and said that when he messes up, it always comes back and hits him in the face.

Actually, it was Kelly Herron who hit him in the face this time.

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“Steiner is a repeat offender,” Herron told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson. “He’s had his chance before to get back out on the street. And every time he goes back out, he re-offends. In the interest of the community, it is best to keep him away and off the street for as long as possible.”

Steiner attacked Herron while she was jogging at Seattle’s Golden Gardens Park in March 2017. Herron went into a park bathroom where he assaulted her, but she fought back.

Steiner in prison

Following Steiner’s three-year sentence, a board will determine if he is eligible for parole or if he will remain in custody. But he did not appear to want out of jail at his sentencing. He asked for the maximum sentence and apologized for his actions. Steiner is also accused of assaulting several women in Arizona.

“He seems to me almost like a tortured individual,” Herron said. “And he can’t stop himself. He begged the judge to give him the maximum. Steiner knows he is not capable of being in society and not causing harm to others.”

“He could potentially be in there for up to life, which is what I am hoping,” she said. “I will be there at every hearing to speak, not only for myself, but with the voices of his other victims behind me and the women who don’t want men like him out on the street. This fight is not over.”