Gavin Smith is escorted into a Kanawha County Circuit Court sentencing hearing on Jan. 17, 2023.Â
Gazette-Mail file photo
On the day his scheduled retrial was set to begin for the shooting deaths of four members of his Elkview family, Gavin Blaine Smith signed an agreement in which he pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree during a hearing on Monday before Kanawha County Circuit Judge Kenneth Ballard.
Smith was 16 years old when he was arrested on murder charges after his grandfather discovered the bodies of Smith’s mother, Risa Mae Saunders, 39, stepfather Daniel Long, 37, and stepbrothers Gage Ripley, 12, and Jameson Long, 3, in the family’s home on Cemetery Drive in Elkview on Dec. 13, 2020. All had been shot in the head.
Smith, tried as an adult, was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder during a 2022 trial in which prosecution attorneys said Smith killed his family because his parents had forbidden him from continuing to see his then-17-year-old girlfriend, Rebecca Walker, who was later convicted of four counts of being an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder.
But in June of last year, the state Supreme Court, in a 4-1 ruling, determined that the trial judge had erred issuing final instructions to the jury deliberating the case and ordered a new trail.
Before accepting his guilty pleas on Monday, Ballard asked Smith to describe the crimes to which he was acknowledging his guilt.
“I shot and killed my entire family,†Smith calmly replied.
What’s next
Sentencing in the case has been set for July 6.
The second-degree murder convictions carry sentences of 10 to 40 years in prison. A first-degree murder conviction comes with a maximum sentence of life in prison, however, state law makes those who were minors when they committed the crime eligible for parole hearings after 15 years of confinement.
“The family is satisfied with the plea agreement. They want this to be over,†Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Debra Rusnak said. “And, frankly, the plea was very favorable for the state. I feel a sense of relief. This was an extremely disturbing case involving the murder of an entire family, including children.â€
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