Sentenced to life at 20, man awaits resentencing for 1995 Monroe killing

EVERETT — At 20, Steven Eggers was sent to prison for the rest of his life for murder. Now, he could be given another chance.

Eggers, now 46, was originally sentenced in 1996 to life without the possibility of parole for beating Blair Scott and dumping him in the Skykomish River while he was still breathing. Scott was 27.

“It is difficult for me to ask for release when Blair never got to go home,” Eggers said in court Tuesday. “Prison is a hard environment to grow up in, I’ve spent 28 years thinking about what I did to Blair and his family.”

The Snohomish County Superior Court granted Eggers’ motion to be resentenced on Jan. 30, in light of relatively recent rulings in the federal and state Supreme Courts.

Superior Court Judge Marybeth Dingledy said she was still carefully weighing her decision after hours of testimony stretched over two days. She planned to announce a ruling May 31.

In December 1995, Michael Skay, then 16, and Eggers, then 19, were at a party in Snohomish with several other people when they decided to beat and rob Scott.

They bound the man with wire and stuffed him into the trunk of his car. The two drove 9 miles to the Skykomish River near the Monroe prison, where Scott was reportedly beaten again.

“Am I going to die now?” Scott reportedly asked.

“Yes,” Eggers responded, according to court documents.

“Is it going to be quick?”

“Yes,” Eggers said again.

The pair threw Scott into the water and left him to die. A witness told detectives the assailants exchanged “high-fives” sometime during the deed.

Scott’s body was recovered from the Skykomish River near Monroe on Dec. 19, 1995. The Snohomish County medical examiner determined he drowned to death, according to court records.

Eggers was driving Scott’s car and wearing the dead man’s boots when he was arrested. He spoke to detectives without a lawyer, saying he got into a fight to protect a girl.

A Snohomish County jury convicted him of aggravated murder in the first degree in August 1996.

Scott’s cousin Chad Davis said in court Tuesday that having to relive this, again, was simply not fair.

“Why is it fair that we have to come here and look at him?” he said. “I’m here because of Blair. I was there when they recovered him. Why should I have to go through this again? Why should our family?”

In 2016, then-Superior Court Judge Linda Krese resentenced his co-defendant, Michael Skay, to 32 years. He had already served two decades.

In a series of cases since Eggers was sentenced, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that juveniles are different than adults. In 2012, the court ruled a mandatory life sentence without parole for homicide juvenile offenders was unconstitutional.

In 2018, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that mandatory sentencing in first-degree murder without considering a defendant’s youthfulness violated the Eighth Amendment. In the 2021 Monschke decision, the state’s highest court extended the protections provided to juveniles to 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds.

He was represented at his resentencing Monday by defense attorney Alexandra Manno. She asked the court for a 27-year sentence, which Eggers has already served, potentially setting him up for imminent release. Manno said Eggers’ brain was “severely” underdeveloped after a childhood of abuse, and he lacked the ability to control impulses and regulate his emotions.

“The sad truth is that Steven never stood a chance,” she said.

As a child, Eggers’ mother would frequently disappear to use drugs, before fully abandoning him at age 7; his father then took custody, physically and emotionally abusing him for years, according to court papers. From the ages of 4 to 7, Eggers was also sexually abused by a neighbor, court documents said.

Eggers’ sister Christine Heinitz said in court Tuesday that he was brought up in a home of violence, neglect, depression, drugs and alcohol with no parental love. He entered the foster care system, where he continued to be abused, but still slightly improved, child psychiatrist Terry Lee testified in court Monday.

Once Eggers turned 18, he aged out of the system, despite his lower level of brain functioning and immaturity, he said. Eggers reunited with his mother, but she was unable to take care of him. He became homeless and committed two felonies for taking a vehicle without permission and residential burglary, court documents said.

Deputy prosecutor Martha Saracino argued Eggers’ behavior in prison demonstrated he was not rehabilitated.

Shortly after being imprisoned, Eggers was placed in solitary confinement, which damaged his mental state and contributed to his infractions, Manno argued. Since 1996, he has spent over 10 years in isolation.

Lee testified after one consecutive year of solitary confinement in 2012, Eggers’ mental health deteriorated to the point of psychosis. The Department of Corrections continued to place him in confinement for another 2 years, according to court records.

From 1996 to 2015, Eggers committed infractions in the prison on 37 different days. In court documents, prosecutors alleged he participated in gang activity: In 2002, he and two other prisoners used improvised blades to stab a Black prisoner 32 times, carving “AF” for “Aryan Family” into him, Saracino said. Felony charges in the stabbing were later dropped due to missing evidence, a lack of cooperation from the alleged victim and other reasons, court records show.

Years later, court documents say, Eggers renounced his gang affiliation. And from 2016 to 2023, Eggers only had infractions on seven days, according to court documents.

Since the Monschke decision, two men in Snohomish County given life sentences for murder have been resentenced and released. One of them was Arthur Longworth, who was resentenced in February 2022 and spoke in support of Eggers on Monday.

Longworth testified that foster youth are more at risk of being incarcerated or, once in prison, joining a gang.

“I killed someone, in very similar circumstances to Steve,” he said. “It’s only been a year since I was resentenced, and I managed to put my life together. I know that he can do the same thing.”

If released, Eggers plans to live with his sister in Mason County.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly listed Steven Eggers as 19 when he was sentenced for murder. Eggers was 20 at the time he was sentenced.

Jonathan Tall: 425-339-3486; jonathan.tall@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @EDHJonTall.