PORTLAND — The Oregon Supreme Court on Friday upheld the fourth death sentence of Randy Lee Guzek for the 1987 killing of a couple near Bend.
The court had overturned Guzek’s death sentence on procedural grounds three times, in each instance requiring a new sentencing trial. A jury in Deschutes County most recently sentenced Guzek to death in 2010.
Guzek’s 1988 murder conviction has never been reversed, but his death sentence spawned a legal drama that has lasted nearly three decades at a cost to the state of millions of dollars.
In the latest appeal to the Supreme Court — triggered automatically in death penalty cases — Guzek’s lawyers raised 87 “assignments of error,” or alleged problems with the process that led to his death sentence. The court rejected most out of hand but delved deeper into questions about a stun belt he wore during the sentencing trial and a brief statement he made to the jury.
The justices ultimately rejected them all, upholding Guzek’s sentence.
Josh Marquis, the prosecutor who tried all three resentencing proceedings, said he’s relieved the justices upheld the death sentence. He said none of the prior rulings centered on the misconduct by police or prosecutors.
“Every time we tried the case we tried to make sure we didn’t make any of the mistakes that the court had seen earlier,” Marquis said. “Hopefully on the fourth time we got it right.”
Jeff Ellis, a lawyer who handled Guzek’s appeal at the Supreme Court, could not immediately be reached for comment on the ruling.
Continued appeals in state and federal court could delay his execution for many more years. Gov. Kate Brown said in February, when she took office following John Kitzhaber’s resignation, that she’d continue Kitzhaber’s policy of not allowing executions to proceed.
Guzek was 18 when he and two accomplices robbed and killed Rod and Lois Houser, who lived in the small town of Terrebonne, according to court records. Guzek, under the influence of methamphetamine, ordered one of the accomplices to kill Rod Houser, who months earlier had told Guzek to stay away from his niece.
Lois Houser was chased up the staircase and shot three times by Guzek, who then stole the wedding ring off her finger.
At the beginning of the latest trial, Guzek waived an option that would have given him the chance for life in prison with no opportunity for parole. Jurors were then left with two options: a death sentence or life in prison with possibility of parole when Guzek is 78.
