Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A nearly 93 year sentence handed down to a 16-year-old Centralia boy convicted of a drive-by shooting in which nobody was injured has been tossed out by the state court of appeals.

Guadalupe Solis-Diaz Jr. challenged his virtual life sentence in light of a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, specifically a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that held a sentence of life without parole is forbidden for a juvenile who did not commit homicide.

The appeals court decision however focused on the deficient performance of the attorney who represented the former Centralia High School student.

The opinion issued yesterday remanded the case back to Lewis County Superior Court for re-sentencing.

Solis-Diaz was arrested in August 2007 after gunfire was sprayed along the east side of South Tower Avenue in Centralia, missing six bar patrons. Witnesses testified it was gang-related.

Centralia police that summer dealt with at least a half dozen gang-related shootings of cars, homes and people, including a case in which bullets pierced the walls of the apartment where the teenager lived with his mother.

Solis-Diaz was a passenger in a car driven by 21-year-old Juan “Pollo” Velasquez and it was about midnight on Aug. 10 when he fired seven times into a group of people outside the Tower Tavern. He turned 17 days after the incident.

The teenager maintained his innocence, but was convicted four months later of six counts of first-degree assault, one count of drive-by shooting and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm.

He had declined a plea offer of 15 years in prison.

Michael Golden was the elected prosecutor at the time and the case was handled by then-deputy prosecutor Chris Baum. Judge Nelson Hunt presided. Solis-Diaz was represented by court-appointed attorney Michael Underwood.

The six assault counts were ordered to be served consecutively and each carried a mandatory extra five years because they were committed with a firearm. The sentence given was at the high end of the standard range, 1,111 months in  prison.

The three-judge panel unanimously ruled in its opinion that the teen’s defense attorney made a number of choices at sentencing that no reasonable attorney would have.

Among them:

• The lawyer failed to alert the court it had discretion to impose a lesser sentence, given that the presumptive sentence was clearly excessive.

• He failed to call family, other members of the community including the teen’s teachers to testify on his behalf, a move which would have apprised the court that the teen’s emotional and mental maturity should have been considered.

• He failed to call to the attention of the court a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which indicated courts should consider youth differently than adults.

• He failed to produce or request a pre-sentencing report which could have shed light upon issues related to the teen’s mental and emotional sophistication.

• He mistakenly indicated the teen was “declined” as a juvenile and tried as an adult, when in fact no decline hearing was held to determine if the teen’s maturity and mental development warranted prosecution as an adult. The case was actually “auto-declined” by operation of a statute.

Yesterday’s decision followed not a direct appeal, but a personal restraint petition.

Sarah Beigh argued in filings for the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office. Solis-Diaz’s attorney for the petition is listed as Kimberly D. Ambrose of the University of Washington  School of Law. A number of other attorneys filed briefs on the teen’s behalf.

Ambrose contended Soliz-Diaz received ineffective assistance at sentencing because his counsel’s performance fell below objective standards of reasonableness and prevailing professional norms. The appeals court agreed.

It’s not clear from the opinion how much time the teen may get after a new sentencing hearing or when that may happen, but is clear the defense attorney must do more than what Underwood did.

Underwood’s entire argument at sentencing in December 2007 consisted of the following:

“Certainly it is a tragic event. You heard all the evidence. My client still maintains his innocence, your Honor, but the jury did find him guilty. We would ask the court, your Honor, to give him the low end of the range. He is 17 years old, declined as a juvenile and tried here.  He’s still looking at, your Honor, almost a life sentence, quite frankly, unless something happens in the intervening years that he is serving his time. We think the low end of the range [927 months] would be more appropriate.”
•••

Read the opinion, here

Updated at 6:36 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – An inmate at the Lewis County Jail who allegedly impersonated another inmate yesterday was able to get himself released, but was found a short time later, according to police.

Chehalis police were called about 6:20 p.m. and given a description of the escapee, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

A corrections officer leaving the jail had seen the inmate out front and knew he was supposed to be inside, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

The employee followed the subject in his vehicle, called 911 and two Chehalis officers arrived to take him into custody without incident less than five minutes later, authorities said.

He was found about two blocks away, at the 200 block of Northwest Chehalis Avenue, according to Chehalis Police Department Officer Linda Bailey.

Charles R. Baker, 54, of Randle, was returned to the jail, Bailey said.

Bailey said she did not know what Baker was locked up for.

The jail roster shows Baker is being held in connection with reckless burning and driving without a license.

Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield said this afternoon he’s waiting for answers about how an inmate got improperly released.

Mistakes were made, he said, but he doesn’t yet know what they were.

The jail is operated by the sheriff’s office.

Mansfield said he does know Baker put on another inmate’s clothing while that inmate was asleep and signed documents for release, as well as spoke with the other inmate’s attorney who was waiting at the jail.

Mansfield said Baker was on a no-bail hold, but didn’t know the specifics.

An internal investigation is underway and Baker is being processed for theft and forgery, according to Mansfield.

The jail has several checkpoints during release procedures, including plastic identification bracelets worn by inmates, according to the sheriff.

His office will find out what occurred and tighten up procedures, he said.

Mansfield said Baker was out of the facility for 10 or 15 minutes.

“We book and release hundreds of people a year and unfortunately this has happened in the past and will probably happen again in the future,” Mansfield said.

The other inmate subsequently woke up and has been released.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 40-year-old man was airlifted with severe injuries after a two-bicycle accident near the skate park in Napavine yesterday evening.

It happened on West Washington Street near Haywire Road.

The 15-year-old Napavine boy with whom he collided escaped with just bruises, according to police.

Police and aid were called just before 5 p.m. to what looked like a pretty much a head on accident, according to Napavine Police Department Officer Silas Elwood.

Elwood said the teenager was heading home from the skate park when he crossed the road.

“The other gentleman was riding into town on Washington / Highway 603, it’s a downhill slope,” Elwood said. “He was one of those kind of serious bicycling guys. Witnesses said he was probably going 30 to 35 mph.”

Ronald Pollack, 40, of Winlock, apparently went head first over his handle bars and landed on the pavement, Elwood said. He was wearing a helmet.

Pollack suffered severe head trauma and an apparent broken neck, according to responders. A LifeFlight helicopter picked him up from a nearby field and flew him to Southwest Washington Medical Center in Vancouver.

Elwood said Pollack was in surgery late last night, but in stable condition and expected to wake up today.

Someone had told the young man the safest way to ride a bike was to face traffic, but that’s not the case, Elwood said.

The sun was in his eyes, and “the kid was probably looking for cars, not another bike,” he said.

He said he wasn’t blaming the teen, but the collision points up a need for some local bicycle safety training.

Bicyclists are supposed to follow the same traffic rules as motor vehicles, according to Elwood. The speed limit there is 25 mph.

It was definitely one of those “freak” things with a number of contributing factors, Elwood said.

“I don’t even want to think about how bad this would have been if he hadn’t been wearing a helmet,” he said.

Updated at 11:44 a.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A young man walking down a Centralia street and a teenage girl at Fort Borst Park were held up in separate incidents yesterday by a pair of males believed to be armed with a stun gun and pepper spray.

In the second case at about 4:30 p.m. the 17-year-old victim kicked one of the would-be robbers in the groin causing the pair to flee, police said.

Two suspects were in custody by about 11:30 p.m., according to the Centralia Police Department. Booked into the Lewis County Jail were Steven N. Romero, 18, and Zachary J. Konoske, 19, both from Centralia.

Police Sgt. Carl Buster said the girl in the park refused to hand over her backpack and money, telling the man she was going to scream. He grabs at her backpack anyways, Buster said.

“She kicks him in the n***, he pepper sprays her,” and they leave, Buster said.

In both instances, the males pulled up in a red car described as full of people, according to police. A 30-year-old Rochester woman and an 18-year-old Morton resident are facing possible arrest for rendering criminal assistance, according to police.

Buster said he won’t be at all surprised if there were other victims of similar crimes in the area during the day yesterday.

“I’m betting other people will come forward,” he said.

The first situation occurred just before 11 a.m. near Woodland Avenue and West Summa street in the south end of town, according to police.

A 19-year-old man told police he was walking down the sidewalk listening to his iPod when a red car pulled up and two males got out and confronted him.

One of them demanded he give them everything out of his pockets and when he refused, grabbed his iPod, according to police.

The other male stood by and threatened him with what the victim thought was a Taser gun, because he heard the sound of electricity sparking or arcing, according to Buster. The victim handed over his wallet, according to Buster.

Acting on a tip, police pulled over a vehicle getting on Interstate 5 at about 7 p.m.; Romero was arrested, according to police. Officers got information Konoske was at a house off Roosevelt Street and went there about 11:30 p.m., according to Buster.

“He tried to run out the back door, but police grabbed him,” Buster said.

The two suspects were booked for robbery.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Authorities believe the three fisherman from Lewis County in last week’s deadly boat wreck spent hours in the water before they were located by a Coast Guard helicopter on Wednesday morning.

“There’s indication they were able to get to the overturned boat and strap themselves to it,” but sometime during the night the straps broke, Pacific County Sheriff’s Office Chief Criminal Deputy Pat Matlock said.

Responders don’t know for sure though when the accident occurred, but think it could have been around 12 hours before they were found, Matlock said. It happened near the entrance to Willapa Bay.

Robert “Tony” F. Garrity, 70, and Charlie Garrity, 26, of Chehalis, and Shad Hail, 30, from Centralia, failed to return home from a Tuesday afternoon fishing trip out of Tokeland, he said. It is salmon season.

“From what we can understand, they got turned around and were coming back,” Matlock said. “They might have hit a sandbar. The people thought they felt the bottom of the motor hit something.”

“A large wave hit the bow, it tipped over and they all went out,” he said.

The wife of one of them called the sheriff’s office about 1:40 a.m. on Wednesday and sure enough, their vehicle was still parked at the boat launch, according to Matlock. The Coast Guard launched a search by boat and by air at first light, and discovered the  24-foot vessel near Leadbetter Point at 7:15 a.m.

The two younger men were on a sandbar, Robert “Tony” Garrity was on top of the boat, he said. The younger Garrity and Hail were hoisted into a helicopter and taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.

The helicopter returned to retrieve the senior Garrity’s body.

The Pacific County Sheriff’s Office wasn’t able to gain a lot of information from the survivors because they were in pretty rough shape, Matlock said.

The coroner’s office lists Robert Garrity’s cause of death as accidental due to hypothermia. He died on Wednesday morning, Deputy Coroner Darrell Stoller knows, because the two boys watched him pass away, he said.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is investigating the boat accident.

Matlock said fatal accidents on the coast are not uncommon.

“The ocean’s not a very forgiving place,” he said. “The weather can change so quickly.”