A Cowlitz County Superior Court judge did not lower the sentence of a Kelso man convicted of murder eight years ago after a Washington state Supreme Court decision allowed him to be resentenced.
Now, the defendant is appealing the decision to the Washington State Court of Appeals.
Austin Gregory Murray, 33, of Kelso, pleaded guilty in 2018 to stabbing another man to death in late 2017 in Kelso during a physical fight at a home.
He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, or 360 months, and the judge maintained that sentence at a January Cowlitz County Superior Court hearing.
Murray’s attorney, Karen Halverson of Everett, filed the appeal six days later.
The range of time in which the state allowed Murray to be sentenced in 2018 took into account his two prior convictions for drug possession.
However, when the state supreme court found that law to be unconstitutional in 2021, the convictions were vacated, lowering the sentencing range for Murray’s first-degree murder conviction.
In February of that year, the state Supreme Court ruled Washington’s simple drug possession law was unconstitutional. The ruling, known as the Blake decision, overturned roughly 40 years of convictions of people possessing drugs.
Murray’s first sentencing range was 338-450 months, and his new range was 281-374 months.
Prosecutors and the murdered man’s father asked for the same sentence to be imposed, while Murray’s attorney requested 281 months. The judge maintained his sentence at 360 months.
Murray originally faced charges of aggravated first-degree murder, second-degree assault, and possession of heroin in the case, according to a previous article by The Daily News, but he accepted a plea deal for first-degree murder.
After the fight, the victim — 35-year-old Ryan Hoven — was taken to St. John Medical Center, where his heart stopped. Doctors briefly resuscitated him and sent him to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, but he died the next day, according to court records.
Murray initially denied being involved in the fight. In a search warrant executed the next day, officers discovered a red switchblade at his residence, court records show.
