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Ryan W. West will not be going to trial, his attorney confirmed Wednesday.
Public Defender David Seid said a resolution has been reached with prosecutors and requested a ‘change of plea’ hearing to be held on Monday, the day West was slated to stand trial for second-degree murder in connection to a fatal car crash out the road in 2011.
Judge Louis Menendez granted the request during a hearing in Juneau Superior Court and vacated the trial. An hour-long hearing is now scheduled to take place 8:30 a.m. Monday morning.
Attorneys have not yet said what deal is in place, or to what charge West will plead guilty. Those details will be discussed during the hearing.
The 27-year-old is charged with one count of second-degree murder for his involvement in the June 6, 2011, single-vehicle crash near Mile 32 of Glacier Highway that killed 19-year-old Gabriel Carte. Second-degree murder is an unclassified felony punishable by up to 99 years in jail.
Prosecutors argued West drove the vehicle at excessive speeds after drinking alcohol. West has maintained that he was not driving at the time of the crash and that he was also not intoxicated. He admitted he drank two beers earlier that evening.
The agreement that has been reached is a ‘global resolution’ that will resolve all other cases against West, Seid said.
At the time of the crash, West was on felony supervision for an earlier 2009 case wherein a 19-year-old woman was seriously injured when she was dragged by West’s truck.
According to prosecutors at the time, the woman handed West money to buy oxycontin as he was sitting in the driver’s seat of his truck. Intending to rip her off, West counted the money then sped away without giving her the drugs in return.
Then-District Attorney Douglas Gardner wrote in an affidavit that the woman held onto the truck as it accelerated out of a parking lot and that West ignored her pleas for help. She fell off after traveling about a block, and she sustained a serious head injury that required her to be medevaced to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
West ended up pleading guilty to two charges in connection to the crime, second-degree theft and duty of an operator to give information and render assistance. He received a suspended imposition of sentence (SIS), and was ordered to serve 12 months in jail for each count. He was placed on probation for five years.
West, a former Juneau-Douglas High School football star who graduated in 2004, has been forthright with his addiction, which family members said started following his father death in 2001, according to letters submitted to the court. He was the subject of an Empire article in 2009 which detailed his descent into drug addiction after he sustained a knee injury while playing football at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah.
Two days after the fatal 2011 crash, the state filed a petition to revoke his probation, saying West admitted to drinking two beers, which is a probation violation. West admitted to that violation on June 22, 2011, in Juneau Superior Court before Justice Warren Matthews, and he is pending a disposition hearing.
The state filed a second petition to revoke probation in August, saying West provided a urine sample on July 1, 2011, that tested positive for marijuana, and another urine sample on July 24, 2011, that tested positive for Vicodin and methamphetamine, according to an affidavit filed by a probation officer. The same affidavit alleged West violated probation by breaking the law, citing the fact that he was charged in connection to the car crash.
In addition to petitioning to revoke his probation, the state charged West on July 28, 2011, with two counts of violating conditions of release for the same conduct. Violating conditions of release is a class ‘A’ misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
West remains in custody at Lemon Creek Correctional Center on $500,000 bond.
• Contact reporter Emily Russo Miller at 523-2263 or at emily.miller@juneauempire.com.
Comments (19)
Add commentTOTAL Scumbag
Let's see... Killing another person while driving (and denying it) , running over another meth-head after trying to rip her off, violating probation and testing positive for Vicoden. What is the liklihood this guy will be a career Felon versus being a productive member of society? My guess is that it is .0000001%.
Send his rear end to prison. That is where he belongs. A scumbag is a scumbag and there isn't any changing them.
27 years old
Time to grow up. Past time.
Sounds like
Sounds like the lad had many things going for him out of HS, a college football player at Weber State etc. He made some extremely poor decisions since then and will likely do some hard time. Too bad so sad, take your whipping like a big boy son, then get on to a productive life. We will once again find out how the court values the loss of a life.
Good take, Helterskelter. I
Good take, Helterskelter. I hope he might beat the odds and be the one who comes out and uses himself as an example to young people and be a positive influence in someone else's life. Not betting my next paycheck on it, but there is always hope.
I honestly do feel for people who face adversity and such difficult circumstances. Some are weaker than others, some do not have a support structure to help get through tough times and some use it as an excuse to make profoundly poor decisions.
Well he knows enough,
To hang his head in shame. That leads me to believe that he knows right from wrong.
Maybe he was raised with a grandiose sense of entitlement. Maybe... I just don't know. Hopefully he can take his punishment become a man.
The woman he dragged was not
The woman he dragged was not a meth-head, just sayin. She was addicted to oxy, not meth. And a little update on her - she is much better, turned her life around, went back to school and now has a great job and a very good life. I hope Ryan can turn his life around too - too many have suffered because of his actions.
unlikely
it took Ryan this long to agree to lower charges, and still denies he was driving....what accountability is he taking...NONE.
he's taking the deal to lower his time in jail that is all, still looking out for #1 WOW
he can't even apologize to Gabe's love one's without lying i bet.
Rehab
I would like to first off give my regards to the family of the young man who died as a result of the crash: let's not forget this is about him. I grew up with Ryan West and he was raised in a very well mannered home, by the way. I believe his mother was actually a social worker.
Addiction can hit anyone, anywhere, anytime. This man needs GOOD help, something that southeast Alaska and Juneau specifically has lacked for DECADES.
Textbook addiction hitting a young mans life right when it hurts him most leading to another mans death all the while the wealthy community this takes place in turns a blind eye to this epidemic of prescription abuse.
Wake up Juneau or this is going to happen again.
Who will it be next time? Your son? Brother? Neighbor? Sister? Mother?
It doesn't matter
What kind of addict she is, just not ok to drag anyone. Some people just don't know these things
I grew up with Ryan West.
Played football with Ryan West. Ryan West is my friend, as is his brother. That having been said, Ryan has had numerous opportunities to turn his life around, and prior to this most recent incident assured me he was doing so. Clearly that was not the case and while I don't enjoy seeing my friends go to jail, Ryan clearly deserves to serve hard time. I'd like to think it will straighten him out, but from what we've seen in the past I doubt it.
Really unfortunate because his mom is so nice, his brother has a pretty good career going for himself, and if Ryan could have just made better decisions, maybe he could have obtained that college degree.
Sorry, Ryan, time to take your lumps and own up for your actions.
Ryan
is a sociopath. He enjoys harming others and when caught lies and denial is all he will ever know. He is safe and in the environment built especially for individuals like him who lack impulse control and again, he really enjoys harming others. My thoughts are no deal. Go to court. He killed Gabe Carte most likely stomped him to death to make it look like part of the accident.
He doesn't deserve a deal! He
He doesn't deserve a deal! He tortured people throughout school, got out of school, became an addict and almost killed a girl because he wanted 200 dollars, gets off with a lesser charge and fakes it through treatment, then kills someone. Why is he even being offered a deal? Ryan is too selfish to think of anyone but himself and he will likely never change. As an addict myself I'd love to say there's hopes for everyone, but sometimes there's not, and this may be one of those cases. He won't even give April, Seana, Rob, and not to mention Eli the closure they deserve and take responsibility for his actions. He's just going to continue to do what's best for him instead of what's right. A lot of people won't be happy until he admits what he's done.
Went to high school with Ryan
All 4 years. He was a loser back then too. fdubzOU has it right, time for the guy to serve hard time.
Pretty Cool That Ryan Has Support
based off of all the thumbs down I'm seeing to very good posts. Always warms my heart to see f ups in Juneau (they are a dime a dozen in this city) sticking up for a fellow lifetime f-up. I've heard countless other bad things about him from people that know him (former classmates, people from the bars, even an ex-girlfriend) that isn't listed in this article or any other. The man is just not a very good person, never has been and never will be. It is what it is. This leopard will not change his spots.
No excuses for taking ones life
I used to ride bikes with Ryan throughout the neighborhood when we were children, before he became an addict obviously. Right across the river from lemon creek corrections. I would like to say for the record he was a very good friend, brother and son, like most all other addicts were at some point in their lives before addiction. Unfortunately some bad things happened to him as a young man and as a result of both not being able to cope/deal with them as needed and not having the proper help/resources in his community he fell through the cracks so to speak. Myself and many others feel sympathy not only for the victim and his family but also for Ryan's family and even Ryan himself. Addiction is a disease and should be treated as such. He should be offered real help, not court mandated classes. Hopefully he will get some help in prison, but I seriously doubt it considering Alaskan prisons are privately run for profit, arent they? Where are they again? colorado? This story is sad from every possible aspect and angle. As kids riding and playing down by the river I never imagined Ryan would end up on the other side behind bars. Equally as sad is the fact there may not be adequate help for him to get back to the other side.
upnorthdownsouth
You must be one of the few people he was nice to, then. Like Blah907 said - "He tortured people throughout school" - one of them was my very small daughter, who even at 27 is barely 5' 2" and 97 lbs. He started bullying her as early as 2nd grade, and it went on for years. Ryan wasn't a very good person to begin with, except maybe to a select few like yourself.
No winners here!
This is so heartbreaking for both families. Gabe is my great nephews daddy, though he will never know what it could have been like to have his daddy around. My heart breaks for all,& there will be no winners here, as both young men in a sense lost their lives that night. My daughter came upon the accident , & I will never forget her terrified cries telling me that there had been a terrible accident, and Gabe was gone. That ride with a drunk driver changed so many lives...I am sure Ryan will receive a harsh punishment, & he will spend a lifetime without peace. As angry as I am at Ryan, my prayers go out to both families. This accident happened over a year ago, let's have some closure, & please remember to think before you drink! Gabes smile strolls through my mind every once in a while, & I can still hear his laughter...I know that given a chance, he would have been an amazing father. <3
It's not up to us
Judge not lest ye be judged ..... Whatever is meant to happen will happen. Poor decisions were made. Young lives have been lost or ruined. Nothing can change that and all I can hope is everyone learns something and moves on the best they possibly can under the terrible circumstances. Any of us sitting in judgement and going as far as to classify someone a "terrible person" is a dangerous place for us to be, no matter what seems obvious or true.
Junocitizen
'Whatever is meant to happen will happen.'
God, do people really think this way? I'm sure glad the doctors who treat us don't just throw up their hands and leave it to fate. Or the police officers investigating crime. Or the scientists working on new drugs. Or really any of the innumerable people who have helped us advance as a species.
Imagine what would happen if they did.
Gnome
That's not what I meant. I meant whatever is going to happen in terms of his punishment is out of our hands. Unfortunately or otherwise the way our system is set up leaves this part of the process in the hands of those working in the legal system. Nothing will bring back the young man who died and the family will carry the pain forever. I can only hope that this Ryan really does turn his life around no matter how futile it may look. But I'm not prepared to sit as judge and jury either based on what I read in the media , or having barely known him as a punk kid or drug addled young adult. I don't think the final judgement is in our hands. I didn't say anything about throwing up our hands and never doing anything when we could or should. I never implied that what happened was "fate". I'm simply saying some of the comments are certainly based on less fact and more judgement. We don't even know the "deal" yet. No matter what it is a life is tragically lost and railing about what a bully he is or decreeing he is a "horrible person" does nothing to lessen that loss. No amount of time in jail will end up making the family's loss any less but I personally hope he gets the punishment fitting the crime as the family does not need to suffer further injustice nor does he need to be given continued messages that he can get away with these crimes; drug addiction or not. But that's as far as I'm willing to go. Unlike others I don't feel I'm in a position to judge whether another person is worthy or useless.
Junocitizen, I don't think
Junocitizen,
I don't think any of the posters here think Mr. West is worthless. However, I think there are some people who think it would be a good idea if Mr. West were to spend a few years focusing his energies towards the making of license plates.
@Fume
Or you could spend his energy making big rocks into little rocks. He just needs to find a way to channel his energy.