New sentencing ordered for man serving life for killing at 16

EVERETT — Michael Skay was 16 when he committed the murder that sent him to prison for what was expected to be the rest of his life.

Now 36, the inmate recently began moving down a path that could one day win him a chance to walk free.

In December 1995, Skay joined Steven Eggers, then 19, in beating and robbing Blair Scott. They bound the Snohomish man, 27, with wire. They stuffed him into the trunk of his own car.

They then drove to the Skykomish River near Monroe, where Scott was thrown in and left to drown. Eggers was wearing the dead man’s boots and still driving his car when he was arrested a few days later.

Skay, who’d had plenty of scrapes with the law as a juvenile offender, was automatically treated as an adult because of the seriousness of the crime. He was tried along with Eggers. A Snohomish County Superior Court jury found the young killers guilty of aggravated first-degree murder. Each faced life in prison without possibility of release — then the mandatory minimum sentence for that crime under Washington law.

“This punishment does meet this crime,” then-judge Ronald Castleberry said in 1996 when he sentenced Skay to spend his life behind bars.

But in 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life sentences for juvenile killers violate the Eighth Amendments’ prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

Legislators responded by amending Washington’s law in 2014. Now, anyone who commits aggravated murder between the ages of 16 and 18 must be sentenced to a minimum of 25 years behind bars. They still can face life without parole, but only after a judge individually considers the circumstances of their life and the case.

A state legislative report from 2014 said there are 27 Washington inmates who, like Skay, were sentenced to life without parole for killings committed when they were under 18. They now appear eligible to be resentenced.

The Snohomish County Public Defender Association has since 2102 been pursuing the legal work necessary to seek resentencing for Skay.

In March, the state Court of Appeals signed an order remanding the case for a resentencing hearing. That was scheduled for January after action last week in Superior Court.

The U.S. Supreme Court case that gave Skay this chance involved two teenaged defendants who were sentenced in Alabama and Arkansas to mandatory life terms. They committed murders at 14 that involved robberies, assault and arson. Their automatic life sentences were unconstitutional because they failed to take into account the offenders’ youth and how the punishment they received compared to other defendants charged with similar offenses, the high court ruled.

Skay is now locked up at Stafford Creek Corrections Center on the Washington coast. Before that, he served 17 years of his sentence in Oregon prisons under an inmate swapping program.

Skay’s resentencing hearing is expected to present information about the crime, the victim and the offender.

Deputy prosecutor Kathy Webber said that because of the high court’s 2012 ruling one focus of the resentencing hearing will include Skay’s personal circumstances at the time of the offense.

Skay was represented at trial by longtime Everett defense attorney Max Harrison. At sentencing, he made a record about his client’s troubled life and acknowledged that the information could not affect the then mandatory sentence.

Skay’s father was in prison when he was young and his mother struggled with alcohol abuse and domestic violence. He was living with her in Florida when her boyfriend stabbed her to death in a parking lot. He then moved to Washington.

“If it can be said someone has been programmed to end up in a room like this, in a situation like this, it would be Michael Skay,” Harrison said at the 1996 sentencing.

Scott encountered his killers when he agreed to buy them beer and then accompanied them to a drinking party.

He had been in the Navy for six years, serving on the deck of an aircraft carrier. He was a veteran of both Desert Shield and Desert Storm. At his killers’ sentencing, Scott’s family described him as an outgoing person whose act of friendship was betrayed.

Scott North: 425-339-3431; north@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snorthnews.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Police: Teen in stolen car flees cops, causes crash in Lynnwood

The crash blocked traffic for over an hour at 176th Street SW. The boy, 16, was arrested on felony warrants.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.