Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A re-sentencing set for this week has been postponed, for the former Centralia High School student whose virtual life sentence for a drive-by shooting committed at age 16 was tossed out by the state court of appeals.

Guadalupe Solis-Diaz Jr. will likely remain held in the Lewis County Jail until the hearing, according to Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Sara Beigh.

“We’re looking at scheduling it for late summer, or early fall, Beigh said today.

His attorney asked for more time, as he gets an expert, or experts, who may testify on the issues, Beigh said. She and Olympia attorney Robert Quillian notified a judge today they were in agreement about canceling Friday’s court date and moving the hearing farther into the future, Beigh said.

Solis-Diaz Jr. challenged his 2007 sentence of nearly 93 years for a drive-by shooting that summer in Centralia in which no one was injured. He was convicted by a jury of six counts of first-degree assault, one count of drive-by shooting and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm.

The appeals court last September identified numerous shortcomings by the defendant’s lawyer, related to matters that weren’t addressed in connection with Solis-Diaz Jr.’s juvenile status. Among them, attorney Michael Underwood failed to call family or or other members of the community to testify on his client’s behalf, a move which would have apprised the court that the teen’s emotional and mental maturity should have been considered.

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. He was tried as an adult.

Beigh said the prosecutor’s office has not yet made an absolute final decision about how long of a sentence it will push for. She said part of her argument will be based on what Quillian presents.

Beigh said she expected a status hearing will probably be scheduled for the end of June. The sentencing hearing itself is likely to be lengthy, she said.
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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

This entry was posted on Monday, May 13th, 2013 at 6:15 pm and is filed under News briefs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.