A Vancouver man was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years in prison for his role in a violent robbery that put an elderly man in the hospital in critical condition.
Sion Wilson, 22, pleaded guilty in June in Clark County Superior Court to first-degree robbery, second-degree assault, first-degree burglary, first-degree arson, second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission and theft of a firearm.
Clark County sheriff’s deputies and firefighters were dispatched around 4 p.m. June 9, 2018, for a report of a vehicle on fire in the driveway of Bob Davis’ Ridgefield house. Then, responders found small fires inside the home and gasoline poured throughout the interior. They found Davis severely injured — with about 15 stab wounds and numerous defensive cuts — in the master bathroom shower, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Two others, Miccah J. McDowell, 24, and Hayden A. Brewer, 23, were also charged in the attack.
Davis is McDowell’s step-grandfather.
McDowell was sentenced in July to 21 years in prison for second-degree attempted murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree arson.
Brewer is charged with attempted murder, robbery, arson and burglary, each in the first degree. McDowell and Wilson were originally charged with the same crimes. Brewer’s trial is scheduled for Oct. 18.
Wilson’s defense attorney, Michele Michalek, told Judge John Fairgrieve on Wednesday that Wilson was not involved in any of the violence that led to Davis being taken to a hospital by helicopter. She said Wilson’s only intention was to get the “riches” McDowell promised him while planning the robbery.
“He didn’t sign up for violence. He didn’t sign up for arson. He didn’t sign up for setting the car on fire,” Michalek said.
Michalek also said Wilson didn’t know the person they planned to rob would be McDowell’s step-grandfather. She said he thought he’d agreed to rob a criminal and that they only asked him to join the day before.
The prosecution requested a sentence of more than 14 years. Although Fairgrieve said he believed that high of a sentence would be appropriate, he took into account Wilson’s “terrible” upbringing and the fact that Wilson was 19 at the time of the robbery.
Wilson apologized to Davis and his family Wednesday.
“I was lost as a person,” Wilson told the judge. “I definitely deserve this sentence.”
He is aware that the robbery “easily could’ve had a different outcome,” he said, in reference to the violence.
Fairgrieve said the facts of the case show Wilson was less culpable than his co-defendants. He said it appears that McDowell was the instigator and that Brewer is the one who stabbed Davis in his shower.
Wilson admitted to pistol whipping Davis in the face and knocking off his glasses when they entered his house.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Dan Gasperino said the probable cause affidavit in the case “reads like a horror story.”
