- Lewis County Sirens.com - https://lewiscountysirens.com -

News brief: No new trial for Ashford area fatal shooting

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Washington State Supreme Court affirmed a Lewis County murder conviction last week for a case that goes back sixteen years, stemming from an argument at a campsite near Ashford.

Kenneth L. Slert has been convicted three times of killing 53-year-old John Benson of Eatonville. The two met at a hunting camp, drank together and Slert fatally shot Benson in October 2000. He maintained it was self defense.

The second-degree murder conviction was thrown out three times.

In  five to four decision, the justices said on Thursday the error at issue was harmless.

The former carpenter who lived in Tacoma has been in prison since after his first trial in 2004 serving a sentence of a little more than 23 years.