Left: Andrew Baim (KOMO/YouTube). Right: Nick Valison (Weeks” Funeral Homes).
A man from Washington state has been sentenced to over 24 years in prison for the murder of a father of two who was looking into illegal dumping activities involving a U-Haul truck in his neighborhood.
Andrew Baim, aged 39, received a sentence of 24 years and seven months for the killing of 53-year-old Nick Valison in Ravensdale, a suburb of Seattle, as announced by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. In September, a jury found Baim guilty of second-degree murder, arson, and two counts of possessing a stolen vehicle.
On September 21, 2023, Baim fatally struck Valison with a pickup truck at the intersection of 329th Place Southeast and 327th Way Southeast. During the sentencing hearing, Valison’s wife, Tanie Valison, who had been married to him for nearly 30 years, expressed her anger towards Baim.
“For the remainder of his miserable life, he will be identified as a murderer because that’s exactly what he is,” she said, as reported by ABC affiliate KOMO. “I hope it haunts him forever. My daughters and I are now serving a life sentence of pain, trauma, and loss without Nick. We did nothing wrong, nor did he, yet our lives are irrevocably changed by a career criminal.”
According to a criminal complaint acquired by local NBC affiliate KING, Valison and his neighbors were troubled by illegal dumping in their vicinity. While walking his dog, Valison approached an abandoned U-Haul, later found to be stolen, and was subsequently run over by Baim in a Dodge Ram pickup truck following a confrontation.
Witnesses reported the pickup truck driving erratically around the time of the incident. Authorities were already familiar with Baim due to his extensive criminal record. Just hours after the murder, officers responded to a vehicle fire, which was identified as the truck involved in Valison’s death. Baim was apprehended two days later.
Photos on Valison’s phone captured Baim’s truck.
Detective Sarah Gerlitz spoke at the sentencing hearing, saying Baim was a drug addict, but that was no excuse for murder.
“We interviewed many people in the drug scene, and none of them described him as a good person,” Gerlitz said, per KOMO. “This is not a person who feels remorse, he only feels sorry for himself as he sits in this courtroom.”
Baim claimed the killing was an accident and said he was “not an evil person.”
“It was a bad decision that was fueled by heavy drug use and addiction,” he told the judge. “I’ve been sober for two years and not a day goes by that I wish I couldn’t take back everything that’s happened.”
But Judge William L. Dixon said while it seemed the defendant was remorseful, the “situation was completely avoidable.”
“You are talking about a property crime … there’s a level of selfishness that’s involved in the decisions you made,” he reportedly told Baim before sentencing him.
Prosecutors described Valison as an avid outdoorsman who loved mountain biking. He worked at Hewlett-Packard for 25 years, his obituary said. He was protecting his neighborhood when he died.
“One friend described this deed as his ‘last great act,’” the obituary said.
