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.
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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 [1]