Neo-Nazi triple-murderer sentenced to life without parole
Still professing his innocence, neo-Nazi Brent Ward Luyster was sentenced Friday to three life sentences without possibility of parole for killing three people in 2016 in Washington.
Still professing his innocence, neo-Nazi Brent Ward Luyster was sentenced Friday to three life sentences without possibility of parole for killing three people in 2016 in Washington.
“I don’t know how I was convicted of this,” the 37-year-old Luyster told Clark County Superior Court Judge Robert Lewis before sentencing in Vancouver, Washington.
A jury convicted Luyster last month, largely based on the testimony of eyewitness Breanne Leigh who was shot in the face on July 15, 2016, at a home southeast of Woodland, Washington, where a Confederate flag flew.
Leigh’s boyfriend and Luyster’s “best friend,” Zachary David Thompson, 36, was fatally shot, along with Joseph LaMar, 38, and his companion, Janell Renee Knight, 43.
“You’re so ridiculously selfish,” Leigh told Luyster at the sentencing hearing.
“You know what you did. You choose not to own up to it, though, and hurt everybody as much as you can. Everyone you ever come in contact with you damage, you hurt, you ruin, you wreck — everything,” Leigh said, according to the Vancouver Columbian.
The precise motive for the murders was never made clear but prosecutors told the jury that Luyster was angry about the prospect of returning to prison if convicted of felony charges he faced in an unrelated case. He was scheduled to stand trial a few days after the massacre for pistol-whipping his ex-girlfriend at his home in Longview, Washington.
Luyster, who has neo-Nazi tattoos covering his body and has spent most of his life in prison, was arrested 18 hours after the killings.
Before sentencing, the Vancouver newspaper reported, Luyster’s defense attorney filed an appeal and a motion for a new trial based on a report that a juror allegedly was unduly influenced when Luyster shaved his head during the trial, revealing Nazi tattoos.
Deputy Prosecutor James Smith told the newspaper that he doesn’t believe there’s any legal basis for a new trial. “We are glad the victims were able to see justice from the court handing down the sentence,” he said.
