John Allen Booth Jr. smiles at acquaintances in the Chehalis courtroom this afternoon while waiting for the judge to take the bench.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Convicted triple murderer John Allen Booth Jr. was escorted by three jail guards when he returned to a Lewis County courtroom today, casting grins to a small sprinkling of acquaintances who were seated in the otherwise mostly empty gallery.
The former Onalaskan was sentenced a little more than a year ago to life without the possibility of release for the August 2010 slayings of two men and a teenage boy, as well as shooting a woman in the face. Prosecutors said it came about because Booth and his former cell mate were “taxing” 52-year-old David West Sr. on behalf of Lewis County drug dealer Robbie Russell.
Booth, 33, filed a post-trial motion from prison asking a judge to vacate his judgement and sentence.
He appeared in Lewis County Superior Court today to set a date for a hearing. His lawyer said it could last for two days.
“Definitely I’m comfortable setting this even in September,” defense attorney Erik Kupka told the judge. “First of all, I don’t know exactly yet what I’m getting into.”
Kupka and an office partner of his, both based in Aberdeen, were appointed by the court just last week to represent Booth in his challenge.
The attorney said he met with his new client for the previous hour inside the jail, and indicated there was a lot of material to digest.
Judge Richard Brosey scheduled the hearings for the week of Sept. 2.
“That works for me, I guess, I’m kind locked up,” Booth offered to the judge.
Booth continued on addressing the judge directly, asking what was going to be done about undisclosed DNA evidence and other issues.
Brosey told Booth to speak to his attorney, not to him.
Booth is incarcerated at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. The judge offered to hold him in the local jail for a week, so his lawyers could have easier access to meet with him.
According to testimony and evidence in the eight-day trial, Booth was visiting West Sr. at West’s Salkum-Onalaska area home when West brought out a shotgun to get him to leave and Booth shot him with a 9 mm handgun. Prosecutors said the shootings that followed were executions to eliminate witnesses.
Losing their lives that day, along with West Sr., were 16-year-old David “D.J.” West Jr. and 50-year-old Tony Williams of Randle. West Sr.’s girlfriend, Denise Salts, survived.
Booth denied even being present, but a jury took only two hours to convict him of murder, attempted murder, attempted extortion and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
He was sentenced under the state’s so-called three strikes law.
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For background, read “Salkum triple murder: Victims cry, defendant lashes out at sentence hearing” from Friday December 16, 2011, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
and why are all you people from lewis county so interested in man sex…. I think you all need some counseling….
@ Mandey…. look here… I have said I do not agree with anybody getting shot or killed.. and I am truly sorry your cousin was mixed up with such a fucked up bastard for a father… I dont believe for a minute he was on his way out of the game because if he wasnt stuffing all that dope in his body he would have had the money to pay for it… this was a horrible event, but from my point of view I see a man getting railroaded by a corrupt legal system and a bunch of tweekers that got paid millions to lie on the stand… I am sorry for your loss but I will never agree with you on this case… maybe you should open your eyes to see this without all the emotion you are feeling to see how they have screwed up this entire case…
AND FOR THE RECORD DAVID SR GOT WUT THEY CALL TAXING BECAUSE HE WANTED OUT SO THESE PUSSIES KILLED HIM BEFORE HE COULD GET OUT AND GET HIS LIFE ON TRACK AND THATS A FACT AND JUSTBECAUSEICAN DID YOU KNOW DJ ? NOOOO WHYS THAT OH HES A KID THATS WHY SO PLEASE TAKE SOME CONSIDERATION ON WUT IF THIS WAS YOUR FAMILY MEMBER AND HOW IT FEELS TO TELL YOUR KIDS THEY AINT EVER GOING TO SEE THERE COUSIN AGAIN AND THE TEARS THAT COME AND HEART ACHE WE ALL STILL FEEL EVERY DAY AND KNOWING DJ JR WONT EVER BE ABLE TO GRADUATE WITH HIS FRIENDS AND CUZINS ITS HEART BREAKING …AND TO THINK BOOTH SRY A*S IS STILL ABLE TO BREATHE AND GIVE HIS POOR POOR PITTY PARTY HES SUCH A PUNK THATS NEEDS THE DEATHE PENALTY PERIOD AND THE OTHER PU*SY THAT HELPED
my lil cousin was not hooked on crap you all got that it was not his fault what his dad was doing period it was proved so shut ur mouth justbecauseican read all the facts he was an innocent kid who only moved to his dads so he could get the attention only a dad could give and he was a great kid who did have a brite future until these scum bags took it away from him I pray evety day the will take there last breathe and pray they both meet theres in there and they get caught dropping the soap lol R.I.P.DAVID SR AND JUNIOR WE LUV AND MISS YOU BOTH ……
@monkey’s uncle… I can see that you get excited at the thought of all those naked men… thats kind of creepy… have you thought about some counseling….
@ justbecauseican
I haven’t seen where any of the victims have been held up as upstanding citizens. Your posts seem to illustrate your own bias toward Booth. My own opinion is any body who is involved with Robert Russell has a bad experience waiting as their reward.
His name is linked to all the people involved in this story.
You seem to more than suggest Booth and company were justified to enter into the West home armed with weapons,which suggests they had a premeditated intent toward violence prior to entering.
My own guess is you’re are a part of the Booth/ Russell clique yourself. I imagine your upset that your buddy is going to be spending the rest of his natural life showering with other men….amongst other activities.
@rockeggroll… Booth is trying to introduce the undisclosed DNA… The reason it hasnt been introduced is because it probably goes against the prosecutors assertions… So much for our courts wanting the truth to be told.. An “UNBIASED” court my ass… Booth would not be wanting to introduce this physical evidence if it did not prove he wasnt there and the court would have introduced it if it would have helped their case.. Right now you have a man fighting the system that supposedly is set up to protect the innocent, and that system doesnt want the truth to be told….
@GuiltyByStander… I can see that you had trouble reading my whole comment and just picked out what you wanted to see… I stated that I dont agree with this type of violence… Maybe you should open a rehab and turn all these tweekers into the model citizens you have pictured in your mind…. What I said is West picked his lifestyle which included getting his own son hooked on that poison… Where you see a model citizen, I see another drug addict destroying the world that my children are going to take over… As far as who who did this cleanup I cant tell you who did it because the cops dont even know for sure… Even in normal society if you create more dept than you can pay the banks and government will send their own tax crew to collect… Do I need to explain what happens when the cops see a gun or can you figure out the ending…..
Well said JustbecauseIcan.
“West was just a drug dealer who ruined the lives of everybody he came in contact with, he even had his own son hooked on the crap he was selling.”
So he deserved to be murdered?
Does the undisclosed DNA evidence implicate him or not? If it implicates him, how can the sentence and judgement against him be vacated?
This whole situation makes me sad… West was just a drug dealer who ruined the lives of everybody he came in contact with, he even had his own son hooked on the crap he was selling. What do our banks and government do when you dont pay your dept…. They send their own tax crew out, the police, to take everything you own. If you were to pull a gun on them they would kill you all and it would be a justified shooting… From what I understand there was no violence until a shotgun was waving around in a drug addicts hands. Lewis County has turned everybody who was in that house into Saints instead of charging them with drug trafficking.. If you think these “survivors” are so great why dont you move them into your homes and let them get your kids hooked on the crap that is running through their veins. Im not saying that I agree with this type of violence, but it hasnt been proven to me that booth was even in that house at the time this happened… O ya, I forget we have the word of a couple of tweekers as proof.. Since when does the courts even classify them as credible witnesses.. Maybe we can get a few of them out of rehab to run the courts and Lewis County since they are such great upstanding citizens… you people make me sick…
It’s too bad it takes “3 strikes”. He should never have been free to commit this crime. Our sentencing of convicted dangerous criminals is not sufficient.
Something about that smile creeps me out. He deserves to be fist punched until he has no teeth, then left to choke on his blood and die. Kinda like what he did to his victims.
I agree, this hearing to vacate his conviction is going to go nowhere.
It’s strange he is going this route and not through the state appeals process.
How Robbie Russell skated on this thing, I can only surmise is do to his value as a long time snitch serving the Lewis County Sheriff’s office. He should be getting out of Cedar Creek minimum security honor camp in side of a year or so. I can only shudder too think what he’ll be involved in when he gets out this time.
Given this most recent time his name was linked with two seperate murderer cases, both involving large quantities of heavy drug dealing.
Somethin2say, actually that’s what I meant, just trying to be polite. LOL , but seriously you are right also.
Let him FRY in HELL
yes this case should be retried. he should get the death penalty. This a-hole sits there in his garb smiling like he just won the lottery. Like see i told you id be famous one day. hang the sob. this evidence wont change the out come. No need to waste any more taxpayer dollars on this piece of crap.
This is the system…everyone gets their day in court and if they don’t like the outcome they appeal. Unless he has a great lawyer I doubt he has a chance, especially in this county. There were 2 witnesses? I never heard that.
I hear that !!! There was actually another person who got away by climbing out a window and I do believe he and Salts both I’d Booth, but this appeal crap is just part of the whole business and so Mr. Creepy Charming is gonna go for the full Monty. Brosey is not a fool , this is just a part of the whole system. I’m sure he is thinkin the same thing we are. I know it seems to take forever LOC , but the system does eventually work and people like Booth end up getting theirs sooner or later.
This is just scary as hell