Guadalupe Solis-Diaz Jr., right, with his attorney appear before Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt today seemed to give clues as to how he might resentence a former Centralia High School student serving a nearly 93 year prison term for a 2007 drive-by shooting in which several bar patrons on a sidewalk escaped injury.
Hunt imposed the time on Guadalupe Solis-Diaz Jr. almost six years ago, but the state Court of Appeals last year tossed out the virtual life sentence referencing various matters that should have been handled more thoroughly, given that he was a juvenile.
The appeals court called it clearly excessive.
“This is ridiculous,” Hunt said, focusing on one of the several criticisms of the local court proceedings and the then-teenager’s then-defense attorney.
The unanimous opinion of the three-judge panel stated local attorney Michael Underwood 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.
Hunt told the attorneys in his courtroom today he helped draft the rules for the so-called automatic assumption of jurisdiction in Washington. He called the issue Underwood’s misuse of a word.
Solis-Diaz, dressed in red jail garb and chains, sat quietly in the courtroom while the judge, his defense attorney Robert Quillian and Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Sara Beigh addressed matters to be taken care of before the new sentencing hearing.
Quillian was requesting more time and also for an authorization to expend funds for an expert to evaluate his client’s emotional and mental maturity.
He’s already been waiting in the local jail nearly a year, the judge said, at an estimated cost of $88 per day when he is the responsibility of the state Department of Corrections, Hunt pointed out.
“All so I could be told that Mr. Underwood made a mistake by not advising me this was not a decline and when I imposed a sentence within the standard range, that that was somehow incorrect,” Hunt said.
Solis-Diaz is 23 years old. He was 16 when the offense occurred.
He was arrested in August 2007 after gunfire from a car was sprayed along the east side of South Tower Avenue in Centralia, outside two taverns. Witnesses testified it was gang-related. Solis-Diaz maintained he was innocent.
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. State law required the time for the assaults to be served consecutively and there were 30 years of mandatory time for firearm enhancements.
The issue comes back to Lewis County Superior Court not from a direct appeal, but a personal restraint petition. The challenge was made 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.
However, the appeals judges focused on the deficient performance of the court-appointed attorney. Among the reasons cited, was Underwood 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.
Quillian said he would like to postpone the hearing currently scheduled for the end of this month, as the specialist he was working with took leave for a family illness.
He proposed to hire Dr. Ron Roesch from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia who specializes in forensic juvenile criminal work. Quillian told the judge Dr. Roesch would review the case materials, conduct a battery of tests on his client and submit a report concerning the matters at hand.
Hunt said he wondered if such an evaluation is even a proper topic to consider.
“It’s his maturity level back then he’s going to need to assess, and he won’t be able to do that,” Hunt said.
Quillian said his reading of the appeal decision was that his client was entitled to present the information of an expert before getting sentenced.
“I think it would be remiss for Mr. Solis-Diaz not to have the benefit of these services,” Quillian told the judge.
Judge Hunt noted the Supreme Court has already said everybody knows juveniles are different in that they engage in more reckless behavior. He pondered if Quillian’s request meant all juveniles accused of crimes deserved an evaluation by an expert.
“Why do we need to spend $6,000 of public money to find out what everybody already knows?” Hunt asked.
During the half hour hearing today, Hunt pointed out he imposed a sentence that was authorized by law, by statute Solis-Diaz was treated as an adult and noted the defendant was at the time, 16 years plus 362 days old.
The judge told the attorney he didn’t want the chosen expert to be someone that charged more than twice as much than the $75 per hour the original attorney was paid. Dr. Roesch estimated 30 hours of time at $200 an hour.
He said he would consider approving the expense if Dr. Roesch submitted a report but didn’t incur travel expenses to provide live testimony.
The new date for sentencing was set for Dec. 17, and expected to last half a day.
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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
• “Former Centralia High School student getting a shot at shorter sentence from 2007 drive-by shooting” from Thursday January 24, 2013, here
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