Charles Sidney Champion, 22, had been charged with aggravated murder in the March 2001 shooting of Officer Steven J. Underwood, 33. Prosecutors had said they would seek the death penalty.

Underwood, married and the father of a 2-year-old boy, was found dead - shot three times - after he radioed that he was stopping Champion and three others on Pacific Highway South.

Champion's murder trial had been postponed several times due to changes in the defense team and defense motions seeking to take the death penalty off the table.

His lawyers argued it would be unfair for him to face execution when Green River killer Gary Ridgway's life was spared after he admitted killing 48 women since the 1980s.

Prosecutors say they've watched their case slip away. They were depending on Champion's family to help convict him.

"Members of the defendant's family were increasingly uncooperative," King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng said. "It was an increasing challenge to hold this case together."

So Maleng decided to offer a plea agreement of no death penalty and no life sentence rather than risk losing the case.

Underwood's "life and death deserved a resolution that reflected uncompromising justice," Maleng said in a statement. "The plea we accepted today has brought accountability and finality to the case, and was in the best interests of public safety. It is, however, the result of an imperfect justice system."

Underwood's family reluctantly supports the deal. They blamed "an uncaring and biased court system ... that ... protects the perpetrator and discards the needs of the victim's family and the community."

Officer Underwood's father Dick says, "We are greatly disappointed and angry with the outcome, but understand the circumstances that got us here. Justice was truly not served today."

Champion will be sentenced Jan. 5 before King County Superior Court Judge Anthony Wartnik. Prosecutors will recommend a 34-year sentence, spokesman Dan Donohoe said.

In his last communication that spring day, Underwood said he recognized one of the men as being wanted on a felony warrant, and mentioned Champion by name.

At the time, Champion was being sought by King County on third-degree assault charges in an attack on his pregnant girlfriend. Pierce County want him on robbery, burglary, assault and witness intimidation charges.

At the Des Moines Police Department south of Seattle, the door to Underwood's locker has been replaced with plexiglas. His uniform, patrol boots and badge hang inside, along with a favorite photo of his family.