By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Two days of court hearings begin tomorrow morning on convicted triple murderer John A. Booth Jr.’s motion to vacate his life sentence.
Booth was convicted for the August 2010 fatal shootings on Wings Way in Onalaska of David West Sr., 52, David “D.J.” West Jr., 16, and Tony Williams, 50. West Sr.’s girlfriend, Denise Salts, survived a gunshot wound to her face. Prosecutors said he was collecting a drug debt.
[1]John Allen Booth Jr.
The former Onalaska resident denied the shootings, but was given a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of release under the “three strikes” law following his December 2011 trial in Lewis County Superior Court.
The hearings are scheduled to begin in Lewis County Superior Court at 9 a.m. before Judge Richard Brosey.
Among the many witnesses Booth, through his lawyer, is expected to call to the stand is Robert J. Maddaus Jr., formerly of Rochester, who is similarly serving a life term in prison.
Maddaus was convicted [2] earlier in 2011 for the first-degree murder of Shaun Allen Peterson. Peterson died handcuffed and shot on an Olympia street early on Nov. 16, 2009, in what prosecutors said was a weekend of threats and attempts by Maddaus to recover pounds of missing methamphetamine.
Maddaus was transported to the Lewis County Jail on Friday morning.
Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said Booth has subpoenaed a lot of witnesses, including many employees of the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
The burden is Booth’s to make the case to the judge on his motion, Meagher said.
Booth is represented by court assigned defense attorney Erik Kupka. He contends eavesdropping on inmates in the jail jeopardized his rights to confidential communications with his lawyers.
The motion to vacate the judgement and sentence is based on court rule 7.8.
Meagher said he thinks this could be Booth’s final appeal.
“We beat his appeal, we beat his personal restraint petition, we beat another motion he made,” Meagher said. “I think this is his last hurrah.”
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For background, read “Judge to hear convicted triple murderer John A. Booth’s motion in May” from Wednesday April 13, 2016, here [3]