John Allen Booth Jr. smirked at a courtroom full of opposition Monday afternoon before sitting down for his first appearance in Lewis County Superior Court following his Wednesday arrest in Spokane as a suspect in the shooting death of three people in Salkum on Aug. 21.
“What are you smiling for?” boomed Danny Williams, whose 50-year-old younger brother, Tony E. Williams, of Mineral, was one of three victims allegedly shot and killed at point-blank range by Booth and his accomplice, Ryan J. McCarthy, in a home on the 100 block of Wings Way.
With short-cropped hair and two-day old stubble, Booth, 31, of Onalaska, faced an additional charge of first-degree murder from Lewis County prosecutors following his booking Friday into the Lewis County Jail. Booth is now charged with three counts of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, first-degree extortion and unlawful possession of a firearm in the first degree.
Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said the additional first-degree murder charge coincides with the second-degree murder charge for the death of 53-year-old David J. West Sr., whose home was the scene of the shootings which West’s girlfriend, Denise Salts, 51, survived.
Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey noted the prosecuting attorney’s office is not charging Booth with aggravated murder, which could bring a death penalty sentence following conviction.
“I’d like to indicate to the court that we are seriously considering that and may do it in the future,” Meagher said.
West’s 16-year-old son, David J. West Jr., was also killed in the shootings. Booth and McCarthy allegedly were ordered by Centralia career criminal Robert “Robbie” Russell, 46, to the Salkum home to collect a debt.
McCarthy and Russell currently remain in custody in the Lewis County Jail.
Brosey set Booth’s bail at $10 million and arraignment for 3 p.m. Sept. 7. The arrest affidavit will be unsealed at noon that same day.
Outside the courtroom, Danny Williams, 53, of Mineral, said Booth deserves conviction for aggravated murder for the killing of his brother.
“He needs the death penalty,” Williams said. “(Tony) didn’t know him at all.”
Meagher said his office may also pursue prosecuting Booth with the “three-strikes” law, as he already has two strikes against him as a persistent offender.
Danny Williams upheld the eyewitness account of another person at the scene of the shootings who was not shot and told The Chronicle that Booth and McCarthy were sent to West’s home for additional payment to Russell for his help in retrieving thousands of dollars in cash for West that was stolen from him by teenagers.
“It wasn’t over a drug debt,” Williams said of the shootings.
Williams’ mother, Juanita Williams, of Randle, said her son and West had been friends for many years and had gone water skiing together the weekend before the shootings.
“All I know is that (West) called him and asked him if he’d help him move” that Saturday, Juanita Williams said, unsure of why West wanted to move, but speculating it was because of heat he was already taking from Russell via Booth.
Meagher said the prosecutor’s office is waiting to charge Booth with aggravated murder pending the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office investigation of the shootings.
Meagher is unsure if a convicted killer has ever been sentenced to death in Lewis County.
“I know that from the statistics they keep at the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, they don’t have on record an aggravated first-degree murder guy here,” Meagher said, adding that charges Booth already faces carry a life sentence. “Any one of these sends him away for life.”
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Adam Pearson: (360) 807-8208
