A guilty plea and sentencing have closed the case on West Seattle’s first 2020 murder, the killing of 41-year-old Jana Layman in her Junction-area home. Her then-roommate Solomon Whitt, now 26, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder as well as to child-rape and child-pornography charges that resulted from discoveries made during the investigation. Last Friday, according to court documents, King County Superior Court Judge Douglass North sentenced Whitt to 31 years and two months – top of the standard sentencing range – for the murder, and concurrent sentences from six to 23 years for the other charges. As reported here after he was charged in January 2020, Whitt said he attacked the victim after she asked him to move out, and tried to make her death look like an accident.
West Seattle, Washington
19 Tuesday
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