By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – For the second time, the Washington State Court of Appeals has struck down Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt’s nearly 93 year sentence for a drive-by shooting committed by a former Centralia High School student at age 16. Nobody was killed.
The three-member panel also agreed Guadalupe Solis-Diaz Jr. is free to move to disqualify the judge from the case.
Guadalupe Solis-Diaz Jr.
Solis-Diaz Jr. was arrested after gunfire was sprayed along the east side of South Tower Avenue in Centralia, missing six bar patrons the summer of 2007. Witnesses testified it was gang-related. Solis-Diaz maintained he was innocent.
He was tried as an adult and convicted of multiple offenses, including one count of first-degree assault committed with a firearm for each bullet that was fired.
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. While nobody was injured, the sentence given was at the high end of the standard range.
In 2012, the Court of Appeals ordered the local court to conduct a new hearing, referencing various matters that it believed should have been handled more thoroughly, given the defendant was a juvenile.
At the end of the hearing when it was finally held in the spring 2014, Hunt criticized the appeals court decision calling some of their conclusions insulting and ludicrous and said he found no merit in any argument he should lower the sentence. He sentenced Solis-Diaz for the second time to 1,111 months in prison.
A different three-member panel which issued its opinion today stated that on remand, the sentencing court must conduct a meaningful, individualized inquiry into whether Solis-Diaz’s youth should mitigate his sentence.
“Solis-Diaz argues, and the state concedes, that the sentencing court erred by refusing to consider whether application of the multiple offense policy warranted an exceptional downward sentence,” Justice Thomas B. Bjorgen wrote in the unanimous opinion. “He also argues the trial court erred by refusing to consider his youth as a mitigating factor and by imposing a 1,111-month prison term on a juvenile offender in violation of constitutional prohibitions on cruel and unusual punishment.”
The appeals court agreed with the two contentions, but stated it did not consider whether the sentence violates the constitutional prohibitions on cruel and unusual punishment.
“Accordingly, we vacate Solis-Diaz’s sentence and remand for remand for re-sentencing,” Bjorgen wrote.
Today’s decision was the topic of some casual conversation in Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey’s courtroom.
Judge Brosey mentioned the issuing of opinion to Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Nelson and defense attorney Joely O’Rourke after they finished the business of preliminary hearings.
Brosey spoke of political correctness and how clerks are the ones who write the opinions the justices sign their names to.
Brosey alluded to his thinking that the age of the person holding the gun doesn’t change what happens at the other end of a gunshot.
Judge Brosey and Judge Hunt have announced they are retiring at the end of this year. O’Rourke is running for election to Brosey’s position on the bench.
Solis-Diaz is represented by Longview lawyer John A. Hays. Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Sara Beigh argued the appeal for the state.
Justices Bradley A. Maxa and Rich Melnick concurred with today’s decision, however Melnick added a few paragraphs.
Melnick stated he agreed the sentence must be reversed, but didn’t believe the appeals court should be telling the trial court what issue to consider on remand.
•••
For background, read “”Do-over” on drive-by shooting sentence yields no change for Centralian” from Monday March 3, 2014, here
And Washington Courts: Court of Appeals Division II: State of Washington, Respondent V. Guadalupe Solis Diaz Jr., Appellant: 46002-5, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
that’s all fine and good, but my point was, in part, this is a story about a centralia resident whose sentence has been overturned, a sentence he got after being convicted of a drive-by shooting … it’s not a story about an immigrant. it’s not a story about an illegal immigrant. it’s not a story about welfare. and, he is probably more native and a u.s. citizen than some of the haters 🙂
There are a couple of errors in the comments. India has the highest number of immigrants to the US, however they are all LEGAL immigrants. We have a much higher number coming from Eastern Europe as well. There are more Hispanic immigrants returning to Mexico than come in from there and most are from Latin American countries further south, not Mexico.
In addition the information that they collect high welfare is completely incorrect. US receives a net positive income from illegals in the US. Illegals are not qualified to collect welfare, only emergency food stamps, medical care and welfare for the children in the home. All that money taken out of illegals paychecks is never collected and goes into the general fund. More people from Mexico have been leaving for several years now than coming into the country. This information is for all of you that are afraid you might have to share something with other human beings. The daily newspapers, and news magazines is the source. For those who do not believe those sources, google federal government immigration statistics.
Keep feeding the trolls people………..
The only illegal immigrants that get counted are the ones who get caught. The majority don’t get caught so the figure is far far higher.
Sure I do. You don’t need to insult me for asking an honest question. If I’m trashing you personally, all’s fair, but that’s not what I was doing.
I did take your advice and visited several sites like the Pew Research Center, Wall Street Journal and USA Today, but the best source was the Migration Policy Institute. They say that as of 2013, over 2 million people from India lived in the U.S., and about 284,000 of those were illegal, or 2.6 percent of the 11 million illegal aliens inside our borders between 2009 and 2013.
I’ll stop here because we’re way off-topic. There ARE Indians who go to Guatemala (no visa required) to be smuggled up here, so you’re partly right, but 2.6 percent is just not that significant a number.
King Gringo: what’s the source? Take your pick. Just google the subject.
You do know how to google right?
Wheres you’re Gang at now? Looks like they didn’t come to help you Vato……lol
India? Seriously? I’ve written about Mexico for most of the past decade and that’s the first time I’ve ever heard India mentioned in any context. Most illegal immigrants in Mexico have come in through the Yucatan Peninsula from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador but I could be wrong. What’s your source?
“Mexico would not Allow Americans to get away with this behavior, why should America.”
I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that you’ve never even lived in Mexico. I’ll bet the only experience you have with Mexico is taking a vacation to a resort or training your replacement on the job site.
You have absolutely no idea what the government of Mexico does to illegal immigrants.
I’ll bet you don’t even realize that the largest number of illegals crossing the Mexican border are from India. You have absolutely no clue the kind of tremendous pressure it is to even attempt to secure the millions of miles of borders surround the US. If you really thought about, and took some time to run the numbers, you will realize that it’s impossible to keep out illegal immigrants. Only sheer stupidity gives people like yourself the notion that a fence or more guards will stop illegal immigration.
The only way to deal with the situation is with understanding and not hateful bigotry and violence. If one were to understand what it is that encourages people to risk life and limb to reach this land, one would quickly realize how fortunate they are to live here and they would be more likely to spend their time trying to make peace with the world and start building on a future that is positive instead of spreading hateful and vicious racist bigotry online.
Few facts about this man he is a us citizen as is his mother so not an anchor baby.he’s 1/2 native his mother is full native.so again all that illegal crap means nothing. HIS father is not dead that is his sister’s father. He has gotten his diploma and taken many classes and all other opportunities given to him to better himself while incarcerated. Maybe before spewing ur absurd hatred and ignorance you should find out a few facts first. I know him very well. Yes as a teenager he was a hot head, but so was I and I grew up and no longer am I’m a loving caring mother. I believe and my opinion is that if anyone shows rehabilitation it is this man. I agree he needed punished and severely however I don’t believe his punishment fits his crime and that is all.
Yep so is Donald Trump, make sure you Contact him Sharyon he wants to Build a Wall to Keep them out..
and you too, Peabody, are fixated, obsessed with providing a laundry list of the things that upset you about illegal immigrants and about Mexicans when you see a Hispanic sounding surname .. your comments might be relevant on a news story on one of those topics
DCTFKH, it’s getting more and more difficult not to respond to your venom … however, here i am. if i recall correctly, he and his sister were being raised by single working mother. his father was dead. it’s getting really tiresome, your rants about welfare and immigration status whenever you see what sounds like a Hispanic name in the news. –sharyn decker. ‘Who cares if he was raised without a father and a working mother. Lots of people in these situations don’t go out doing drive bye’s on innocent people. And the anchor baby issue is correct these illegals get here by committing a Felony and hatch out kids on American soil. Mexico would not Allow Americans to get away with this behavior, why should America. Also it’s proven that illegals get more money from Welfare than Americans do. If you can’t enter our country legaly then if you get caught you should be deported along with you’re children. Americans are sick of this method to gain Citizenship. Hence the Term Anchor Baby is correct. Deport them abd make these people go through thr proper procedures to get Citizenship. Hatching out Anchor Babies is not the proper way to get Citizenship. Fair is Fair and when you commitca Felony to get here why should it ve Legal to stay just because you popped out a baby here…
As the recipient of the knife to the neck and putting aside that the circumstances in that situation were a great deal different than what they may appear (but that will come out at the trial (Justice for Grace!)), and that assault 1 does carry a possible life sentence, I couldn’t have said it better myself “Wheresthejustice”. I feel for no other reason than gut instinct that some type of pop culture bigotry plays some sort of role in this shit. Lewis County has been making a lateral move away from uncle fucking and burning books to inner city type criminal activity for some time now and the culture and violence of it scares a lot of people, And rightfully so. But for judges to toss equity out the window in the favor of scare tactics to prevent this is just absurd. It hasn’t worked anywhere else in the past why in the hell would it work here? I think someone had the right idea when they spoke of Wanting to travel after retiring.
Sorry, I meant Judge Brosey, not the prosecutor, Nelson
Is my reading corred in this Judges statement regarding “political correctness”? He is saying a clerk writes the opinion of a case that he then signs his name to. He is thereby alluding to the fact that the clerk is responsible for the content, not the Judge. I was of the impression that when one signs their name to something this important, they then “own it” and agree with the content. I can only assume that the Judge read and discussed the content prior to signing.
If this is Judge Nelsons actual intent with this statement, I find that pretty shocking.
I am so frustrated with the entire legal system! Those jerks that TORTURED Jasper to death AS ADULTS got 34 years! WTF?? How about those women (2 completely separate incidents) who STABBED people, one in the neck the other in the chest? Obviously meant to kill, luckily didnt, but were charged with ASSAULT? Why not ATTEMPTED MURDER??! I guess i will never understand..oh, yeah! How about that lowlife who INTENTIONALLY SHOT his ex girlfriend at the park in Winlock?? Didn’t he get like 24 years or something?
And all of these people were well over 20. I don’t understand imposing a life sentence on a 16 year old when no one was even injured. Sure, 5-10 years maybe, as this was inarguably a very serious offense, but come on! His crime doesn’t even compare!
He fired a gun from a moving vehicle into a crowd of human beings. That sounds an awful lot like intent to kill to me. Juvenile or not. Single mother and dead father or not.
I keep reading people saying to set him free and to make something of himself but honestly, he’s been in there since 2007. He has no degree, no job experience, and he’s been hanging around other inmates. So far crime is all the kid knows and when he gets out he’s going to need money just like anyone else. I think if they release him eventually he will slip. Maybe not though…I know people can change but not everyone can. Rotting in jail is sucks but for some it’s easier then dealing with real life, which is why sometimes people can’t ever stay out.
My uncle stabbed two elderly people to death when he was in his 20’s. He was sentenced to 60yrs, eligible for parole after doing 20yrs. I had friends that did a drive-by shooting when they were 15 and 16yrs old and they were sent to Greenhill until the age of 21. Seems like an awfully long sentence for the crime committed. I say let the young man go now, he served a lot of time already and is still young enough to make something of his life.
I am very pleased with the court of appeals ruling involving this case. He was far too young to receive such a sentence. I met kids while I served a sentence at Green Hill School that did drive bys on people, actually shot them in the head and are only serving 10 years. Many of you say “what if his bullets had hit someone?”. The problem and fact is they didn’t. Had they have done so would have been a different story. But they didn’t! I hope that he gets out and makes something productive of himself. Good luck to you, don’t do anymore stupid stuff. I hope you have learned from this.
“but if you are going to do things that are adult like, then you deserve an adult sentence.”
And since when do adults go out shooting at people on the streets? Saying that firing random shot from a gun in a moving vehicle is “adult-like” tells us that you have no clue how adults are supposed to behave.
I knew this kid in school. I had an English class with him. He always ran around with the kids that were into banging and was always starting stuff in class. I remember one time he flipped out over a kid I was talking to because he thought the kid was talking bad about him, which the kid wasn’t even mentioning anything that related to him in anyway. He was the type of person that if you even looked at him wrong he’d let you know he didn’t like it. Maybe he’s grown up and changed but maybe he hasn’t either. It’s a tough call, some people can change and others just stick to what they know.
Well this guy had the Venom to shoot a gun recklessly at innocent people. Let this send a message to all the other Gangster punks who bring this shit to our community. Fire a gun off in the city limits with intent to kill. Find yourself rotting behind bars with the rest of the animals you act like…..
I understand he was 16 , but if you are going to do things that are adult like, then you deserve an adult sentence. He had to have known what he was doing was wrong, and it held consequences, granted it’s a long time but he should’ve known better than spray bullets that could’ve potentially hit, God forbid killed patrons. Speaking of God, I pray for the judicial system and the defense get this figured out and done right. Amen.
DCTFKH, it’s getting more and more difficult not to respond to your venom … however, here i am. if i recall correctly, he and his sister were being raised by single working mother. his father was dead. it’s getting really tiresome, your rants about welfare and immigration status whenever you see what sounds like a Hispanic name in the news. –sharyn decker
Ok , so this piece of crap anchor baby gets life who cares , just that much more welfare saved, how about slapping around his worthless scum parents , or how about mandatory parenting classes with every welfare check. From what I see around here, welfare birth control is needed! !!!
Judge Nelson would be better suited for the courts in Saudi Arabia where there is no appeals court.
Buy a one way ticket-yep, he cant do all that, but he could spray bullets up and down the street, would you sing a different tune if you were hit by one of them?
Jesus H God, 93 years? A 16 year? His testicle haven’t even dropped yet. Can’t fight for his country, smoke, vote, get stoned, buy a beer or hit nudie bar. Phuq Nelson, why don’t you just cut the kids feet off, he can still walk ya know…..