By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Guadalupe Solis-Diaz Jr. was back in a Lewis County courtroom today as lawyers begin the process to address a court order to resentence the former Centralia High School student.
Five years ago, Solis-Diaz was given nearly 93 years in prison for a crime he committed when he was 16 years old.
He 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.
A sentencing hearing was set for May 17 in front of Judge Nelson Hunt, who presided over his trial and sentenced him the first time.
Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Sara Beigh said today she will be writing a brief to the court to address how long the new sentence should be and why.
Her boss, elected Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer, said they don’t know yet exactly what they will recommend.
Defense attorney Robert Quillian said he will be doing the same, and has much work to do, studying the case and the legal issues involved.
The appeals court referenced some matters that could have been handled differently, Quillian said.
Quillian indicated to the judge he will ask for an investigator.
Among the shortcomings identified by the Washington State Court of Appeals in its September decision, was the lack in 2007 of a pre-sentencing report which could have shed light upon issues related to the teen’s mental and emotional sophistication.
Solis-Diaz challenged his virtual life sentence in light of 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.
He has been incarcerated at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla-Walla. His attorney requested today he remain in the Lewis County Jail for closer access for meetings.
Today, in the Chehalis courtroom, were Solis-Diaz’s mother Elizabeth Dan, and nearly 20 apparent supporters.
Dan was reluctant to speak about the case.
“I just don’t want to read anything bad about my son,” Dan said. “I tried to raise my son the best way I know how. And that’s it.”
Chehalis defense attorney Chris Baum was a deputy prosecutor in 2007. He handled the case.
“This is a tough situation and I’m not sure where it’s going to go,” Baum said this afternoon. “I’m very curious.”
The 2007 sentence was driven by statute, Baum said.
First, although Solis-Diaz was only 16, he was treated as an adult in adult court, Baum said. The multiple convictions for first-degree assault had to be served consecutively.
“And no matter how you slice it, there’s 30 years on the firearms enhancements,” he said.
Baum suggested it needs to be dealt with by the legislature.
His prediction is the new sentence will also be very long, because of the statutory framework in place, and it will get appealed and a higher court will sort it out further.
“The judge has very little discretion,” Baum said. “The real authority is in the hands of the prosecutor. It’s the charging decision.”
Prosecutor Meyer said the Lewis County case is front and center right now among prosecutors around the state.
The Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys is putting together prosed legislation to deal with cases that amount to life without the possibility of parole for juveniles, Meyer said. They’re doing it because the Supreme Court has made it clear it has to be addressed, he said.
One idea would be something like a review after 30 years, according to Meyer.
Quillian, who is based in Olympia and been a lawyer since 1976, said sentences as long as his clients don’t occur very often at all.
He’s hardly seen any among his own cases, he said, if you don’t count murders and three-strike cases who are literally sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
“I can count them on one hand, I can tell you that,” he said.
•••
For background, read: “Appeals court gives Centralia teen a “do-over” on 90-plus-year drive-by shooting sentence” from Wednesday September 19, 2012, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
As an after thought; I wonder if the Lewis County LVL are writing him or sending him money (lmfao)… someone please warn the other little lost Hispanic boys without daddies that this is their future if they follow in the footsteps of losers. The people who told him to do this and handed him the gun should be the ones serving the time…isn’t that what happened with the maffia? I believe the charge is leading organized crime. Not that these uneducated morons are organized. The kid did what he did and he did what he was told. Dont get me wrong he’s at fault plenty but he looked up to these gang leaders and they misled him and told him they loved him. Read the round up about the 17 year old who was jumped…spooker josh…u should be so proud. A shining example for ur people and ur children. Pathetic
What I know is this kid was seriously misguided by idiot 32 year old gang bangers who recruited him to do their dirty work. He made his bed but some other loser handed him the sheets and blankets. I bet he doesn’t think spooker and the LVL are so cool now. I don’t think 93 years is a lesson that can teach anyone anything, it’s a gang shooting that was made an example of. He shouldn’t get away with it but my god Reeder only got 30+ years and he tortured a baby girl to DEATH. No one was killed or even hurt here. Either he should 30 years or Reeder should get 93…something is wrong here. Why is the “justice” system so screwed up? This wasn’t his idea I’m sure…where the hell were his parents when he needed a role model and he turned to flag floating, gun toting, gang banging, wannabes, who couldn’t even do this big tough manly drive by (lol chicken shits) themselves?! His parents failed him and so did the legal system. This kid needs to be rehabilitated not thrown in a cage with hardend criminals who will tell him more lies about how to survive. But we don’t even have a way to do that do we? The system doesn’t work.
I agree with Enforcer insofar as the sentence fitted the crime, which in this case it did not.
You can’t automatically condemn a 16 year-old as a “lifelong criminal” wihout some kind of shadenfreund.
I can’t help but think you want this poor brown teenager to suffer like you did at the hands of authority figures put in charge of you when you were a youngster.
To sit in judgement as you do, while condemning innocent children to adult prison speaks volumes about a deep-seated psychological need for you to punish kids.
It’s sick and twisted.
The prosecutre f’d up because he’s an idiot voted into office by fellow idiots.
In my opinion this is a full time criminal and he deserves what he received. If they would do this more often it would put the criminal element on notice. As it is now it takes a lot to get a year in prison. And it was a wonder he did not kill anybody.I do not care if he was 16 he knew what he was doing and he did not get the job done he was after. These are the kind of people that should be in prison and he should stay his 93 years These bleeding heart Judges are the problem we need people in that office the will get the criminals off the streets and let the decent people live a normal life without worrying about the tweeters stealing everything you have worked for. And there is plenty of them in Lewis County that should not be out on the streets.
OLJ…Don’t forget to add drug dealers to the ‘sweetheart deal’ list. My idiot brother-in-law was nabbed for heroin and meth dealing (as well as unlawful possession of a firearm) in a school zone after a long investigation. He was looking at 20-30 years. His sentence, after the plea deal? 22 months. Less than that if he behaves in prison. Yeah, that’s bound to show him the error of his ways.
The incompetence is astounding!
Should have gotten it right the first time. Why wasn’t solis-diaz offered a sweetheart deal like the baby rapists and murderers?
Could it be because he’s brown?