TACOMA — The state Court of Appeals has rejected convicted murderer Ryan Neil Sorensen’s appeal in the slaying two years ago of his former father-in-law in Port Hadlock.
Sorensen’s defense attorneys appealed his November 2003 conviction in the shooting death of 62-year-old Frank “Skip” Smith, owner of Smith Services towing company at 10675 Rhody Drive.
Sorensen was convicted of shooting Smith 25 times with two 9 mm handguns after tying up two employees at the towing business on April 29, 2003.
During the trial in Jefferson County Superior Court, Sorensen, now 33, pleaded guilty to first-degree premeditated murder and was sentenced to 84 years in prison.
Appealing the ruling, the defense argued that the trial judge, the late Thomas J. Majhan, should have honored Sorensen’s affidavit of prejudice and that the sentence was beyond the standard range.
The Washington Court of Appeals denied the appeal on Tuesday.
“I am delighted. It’s made my day — maybe even my year,” said Juelie Dalzell, Jefferson County prosecuting attorney, who built the case against Sorensen in 2003.
“And the widow, Shawna-Kay Smith, is grateful because it’s a very very long sentence.”
2-1 ruling
Two out of three appellate judges upheld the sentencing conviction.
“Because the trial court made a discretionary ruling before Sorensen filed the affidavit, and because the offender score miscalculation did not affect his standard range, we affirm,” states an unpublished opinion from the two concurring judges, David Armstrong and Elaine Houghton.
“Sorensen’s sentence is proper. . . . Nothing in the record suggests bias,” the jurists concluded.
The case was complicated by the Jan. 18, 2004, death of Majhan, who sentenced Sorensen during the trial three months earlier and died during the appeal.
