A Washington appeals court on Monday upheld a 46-year-to-life sentence for a man convicted of killing four members of a Bellevue family as a teenager nearly thr
A Washington appeals court on Monday upheld a 46-year-to-life sentence for a man convicted of killing four members of a Bellevue family as a teenager nearly three decades ago, rejecting his argument that the punishment effectively amounts to an unconstitutional life sentence.
A three-judge panel of the Washington Court of Appeals, Division One, affirmed Alex Kevin Baranyi’s resentencing, finding that the trial court properly considered his age at the time of the killings and evidence of his rehabilitation in prison.
Baranyi was 17 when he and another teenager killed the Wilson family in January 1997.
Baranyi had originally received four consecutive sentences of life without the possibility of parole after a jury convicted him of four counts of aggravated first-degree murder. In October 2024, a King County judge resentenced him to four concurrent terms of 46 years to life under changes to state law governing people sentenced to life without parole for crimes committed as juveniles.
The appeals court ruled that the resentencing judge did not misapply legal standards established after the U.S. Supreme Court's 2012 decision in Miller v. Alabama, which held that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juvenile offenders violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
Washington subsequently enacted legislation requiring resentencing for people who had received mandatory life-without-parole sentences for aggravated first-degree murders committed before they turned 18.
The killings began on Jan. 3, 1997, after Baranyi and David Anderson, both 17, lured 20-year-old Kimberly “Kim” Wilson to Woodridge Water Tower Park in Bellevue. The two had discussed killing someone for at least a year and decided to act before turning 18 because juveniles could not receive the death penalty, the court said.
Baranyi strangled Wilson with a rope while Anderson helped subdue her, according to investigators. The two then went to the Wilson home, where they killed her parents, William “Bill” Wilson and Rosalie “Rose” Wilson, and her 17-year-old sister, Julia Wilson, using knives and a baseball bat. They stole electronics from the house and later discarded weapons and bloody clothing in a trash can near Baranyi's home.
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Two boys found Kim Wilson's body in the park two days later. Police discovered the other three victims when officers went to the family's home to notify them of her death. Baranyi was arrested Jan. 9 and confessed, initially saying he acted alone before acknowledging another person was involved.
At the time of Baranyi's 2024 resentencing, Judge Jason Poydras credited him for roughly 28 years already served, meaning he could become eligible for parole in about 18 years, when he is in his early 60s.
The prosecution argued during the resentencing proceedings that Baranyi's actions were not the product of youthful impulsivity. A prosecution sentencing memorandum described the killings as a planned effort motivated by a desire to experience killing and emphasized that Baranyi and Anderson had contemplated murder well before carrying out the crimes.
Baranyi's attorneys pointed to his age, childhood, and relationship with Anderson, arguing those factors impaired his judgment. They also cited his remorse and record in prison. Defense attorney Katie Farden wrote that Baranyi had long recognized the suffering he caused the Wilson family and the Bellevue community.
Evidence presented at Baranyi's resentencing hearing showed he had taken classes, pursued personal development and helped other incarcerated people. Fellow inmates testified about his role in creating a program to help long-term prisoners enroll in college, while a corrections officer said Baranyi became an integral part of a release-readiness program and essentially wrote its curriculum.
Baranyi also expressed responsibility and remorse during the resentencing proceedings, telling the court, “I am here to accept responsibility for what I did. I’m not here to justify my actions.”
The trial court found Baranyi had demonstrated a capacity for change and did not belong among the rare juvenile offenders considered irreparably corrupt. But it also found that the murders did not substantially reflect the characteristics of youthful immaturity identified by the Supreme Court, pointing to the lengthy planning, efforts to avoid punishment, and steps taken to conceal the crimes. The judge called it a “rare case” in which a longer sentence was appropriate and imposed the four concurrent terms of 46 years to life.
Baranyi appealed, arguing in part that 46 years amounted to a de facto life-without-parole sentence and that the resentencing court improperly weighed punishment over rehabilitation.
The appeals court rejected those arguments. It said Washington law does not establish a blanket prohibition against sentences of 46 years or longer for crimes committed by juveniles. Such sentences are constitutionally barred in certain cases in which an offender's crimes reflect youthful immaturity, impulsiveness or failure to appreciate consequences, the court said.
In Baranyi's case, the appeals court said the trial judge recognized both the differences between adolescent and adult brains and Baranyi's substantial rehabilitation. But the court agreed that Baranyi had failed to show his youth diminished his culpability for the killings.
The panel also found that the resentencing court appropriately gave greater consideration to rehabilitation than retribution while retaining discretion to weigh the circumstances of the murders.
“Under the unique facts of this case and the circumstances of this case,” the trial court was within its discretion to impose the 46-year minimum terms, the appeals court said in recounting the sentencing decision.
The appeals court concluded that neither the Eighth Amendment nor the Washington Constitution prohibited Baranyi's sentence and affirmed the resentencing.
Anderson, Baranyi's co-defendant, has also been subject to resentencing proceedings. In 2024, Anderson had been resentenced in 2022 to 33 years to life, but prosecutors successfully appealed that sentence.
