Appeals Court Again Overturns 92-Year Sentence in Centralia Gang Shooting

A man convicted as a teenager in a 2007 drive-by shooting in Centralia will be sentenced for a third time after the state Court of Appeals ruled this week against his 92-year sentence. 

Guadalupe Solis-Diaz was convicted after firing bullets along South Tower Avenue in a gang-related drive-by shooting in Centralia when he was 16 years old.

His 1,111-month sentence was overturned in a decision dated May 17 in which the Court of Appeals ruled that the trial court did not consider a lower sentence based on his age and a consideration of whether the sentence was excessive given his crimes. 

No one was injured in the shooting. 

Solis-Diaz will be re-sentenced in Lewis County at a date to be determined.

Solis-Diaz was convicted of six counts of first-degree assault, each with a firearm sentencing enhancement, one count of drive-by shooting and one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. 

He was sentenced to 1,111 months, or 92 years in prison, which was a standard sentencing range given his multiple convictions. Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt presided over the sentencing. 

Solis-Diaz appealed the sentence, which the state Court of Appeals granted in 2012 on the grounds that Solis-Diaz received ineffective counsel. The court did not make a ruling on the length of the sentence.

At his re-sentencing in 2012, Solis Diaz asked for an exceptional downward sentence, arguing that the 92-year-sentence was “clearly excessive” and that his age meant that he had a “diminished capacity to understand the wrongfulness and consequences of his actions,” according to the court’s opinion.

Hunt, presiding over the sentence again, denied the request and imposed the same 1,111-month sentence, saying that he did not believe he had authority to impose a less-than-standard-range sentence in a case involving serious, violent offenses. 

Solis-Diaz appealed again, and was again remanded to Lewis County for a new sentence.