PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man’s life sentence without the possibility of parole has been upheld by the state Court of Appeals, according to the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Alvin Leslie Witherspoon, 42, of Port Angeles was convicted in April 2010 of second-degree robbery, residential burglary and witness tampering related to a Nov. 12, 2009, incident at a Clallam County home.
The second-degree robbery conviction was Witherspoon’s third “strike” or “most serious offense” under the 1992 three strikes sentencing law, Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols said.
Under the “Three Strikes, You’re Out” law, the sentence requires Witherspoon to remain in prison without possibility of early release for the rest of his life, Nichols said.
Witherspoon’s previous strike convictions were for residential burglary with a deadly weapon enhancement and first-degree burglary in Snohomish County, Nichols said.
Strike convictions include more than 40 felonies considered as most serious offenses.
Witherspoon, then 36, was convicted of burglarizing a Red Deer Drive residence off Blue Mountain Road southeast of Port Angeles.
When the homeowner returned unexpectedly, Witherspoon came around the house with one arm behind his back saying he had a pistol, according to Clallam County Superior Court records.
The front door of the home had been pried open, court papers said.
As Witherspoon sped away in a car with his pregnant girlfriend, the homeowner recognized two shoe boxes from her house inside the vehicle.
The homeowner gave chase at speeds of up to 85 mph and reported the license number to dispatchers.
Clallam County Sheriff’s Sgt. Randy Pieper located the vehicle at a nearby trailer court and detained Witherspoon and the woman.
Five days after the arrest, investigators said Witherspoon phoned his girlfriend from the Clallam County jail and tried to persuade her to fabricate a story about a fictitious hitch-hiker burglarizing the home, court papers said.
Prior to his sentencing, Witherspoon drafted a letter to the court requesting that the robbery count be vacated.
The life sentence was handed down by the late Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser, who presided as a visiting judge at trial.
‘No discretion’
“I didn’t think you should go to prison the rest of your life and I don’t mind putting that on the record,” Verser told Witherspoon at the sentencing hearing as quoted by the state Supreme Court, “but I have no discretion at all.”
In a 5-4 ruling in July 2014, the state Supreme Court upheld Witherspoon’s life sentence without the possibility of parole.
The court ruling affirmed an earlier state Court of Appeals decision in the case.
The life sentence was upheld by the appeals court March 1 after Witherspoon filed a personal restraint petition, arguing ineffective defense council in a collateral attack, the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said.
Witherspoon remained Wednesday at the Monroe Correctional Complex in Monroe.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
