A former Arlington businessman who was sentenced to 79 years in prison for trying to have four people murdered may get his sentence cut in half after a state Supreme Court decision Thursday.
The high court struck down three of five convictions of solicitation to commit first-degree murder for Mitchell Lee Varnell, 45.
The court also sent the case back to Snohomish County Superior Court to sentence Varnell on two counts of the crime, not five.
Deputy prosecutor John Stansell, who prosecuted Varnell in the 2000 case, said he was “dumfounded” by the justices’ decision.
“I don’t know about the oath they took,” Stansell said. “I assume it had something to do with the constitution or fairness. Those concepts don’t mean much to this group.”
Varnell was convicted for asking an employee to kill his ex-wife after a bitter divorce. The employee refused.
Instead the employee went to Varnell’s former wife, who told police. The police set up a sting operation, recording a conversation between Varnell and a purported hit man, who really was an undercover officer.
At an Everett restaurant, Varnell offered to pay the undercover cop $60,000 to kill the ex-wife, her brother and her parents. He even supplied information on alarm systems and how to get into two homes.
In a 7-2 decision, the high court ruled that the restaurant solicitation was only one crime, even though four people were targeted in that meeting.
The majority centered on the single conversation between Varnell and the detective.
“The focus is not on the future criminal conduct the detective may have engaged in, but on the solicitation by Varnell to so engage,” said the opinion written by Justice Charles Johnson. “Under these circumstances, only one solicitation occurred.”
Justice James Johnson disagreed. In a dissenting opinion he wrote the majority ruling meant three “potential victims were all free targets for the defendant.”
Deputy prosecutor Charlie Blackman, who argued the appeal before the Supreme Court, maintains that the Legislature meant to impose a crime for each of the people named by Varnell.
“We think the dissent got it right,” Blackman said. “The ball’s now in the Legislature’s court. They can rewrite the law.”
Under existing law, Varnell can be sentenced to between about 30 and 40 years behind bars, Stansell said.
Varnell, who is housed in a Florida prison, will have to return to Snohomish County for a new sentencing by Superior Court Judge Linda Krese, Stansell said.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or jhaley@heraldnet.com.
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