Neil Allen Alway makes an appearance in Clark County Superior Court Aug. 16 in connection with the April 2017 death of Raymond Brandon
The last of five defendants facing charges in connection to a 2017 murder received almost 71 years for his involvement last week.
Neil Allen Alway, 43, was sentenced to 850 months in prison for first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree kidnapping, and two counts of first-degree robbery May 7 in Clark County Superior Court. He was found guilty on April 8 by a jury for the death of Raymond C. Brandon, who was 34 when he was killed. Brandon’s body was discovered in a shed in Hockinson a week after his death.
Alway was the only one of the five defendants in Brandon’s murder to go to trial. Earlier in the week, three other defendants —Traci Lynn Mendez, 45, John Michael West, 47, and Ashley Lorine Wideman, 27 — received their sentences. The fifth defendant, Ashley Lorraine Barry, 35, was sentenced Aug. 26, 2019.
On May 3, Mendez and West both received about 18 years for second-degree murder charges, and Wideman was sentenced on second-degree rendering criminal assistance and unlawful imprisonment, receiving two months probation. Barry had received about 13 years for first-degree manslaughter.
As part of their plea deals, Mendez, West, and Wideman agreed to testify against Alway in his trial.
The last sentences came more than four years after Brandon was killed. According to court documents, Brandon and his girlfriend, Allison Fields, had arrived at Mendez’s house in the 15300 block of Northeast 172nd Avenue in Brush Prairie the morning of April 20, 2017, which they had been visiting for a few weeks.
On that visit, Alway pointed a gun at the two, told them to undress, and took Brandon outside with West, according to court documents. After Alway and West beat Brandon, Alway shot Brandon with the gun in the chest, killing him.
Alway wanted to settle a debt with Brandon, according to court documents, and was planning to take the Subaru Forester Brandon and Fields came in as repayment.
Following the shooting, Alway, West, Barry, Wideman, and Fields were driven from the property by Mendez to a farm off of Northeast 119th Street in her SUV, court documents stated, after Barry broke the window of the Subaru and tried unsuccessfully to start it. Alway wanted to replace the broken window and agreed to drive Fields to her father’s house after she said there was a replacement there.
When Fields’ father appeared, she ran to him and the group fled, court documents stated, keeping the Subaru.
Alway and Barry were arrested April 25, 2017 on unrelated charges. Brandon’s body was discovered two days later in a shed on Mendez’s property. West and Wideman were arrested May 8, 2017, and Mendez was arrested in August of that year.
Alway is likely to appeal the verdict. On sentencing documents, he signed “not guilty” for the defendant’s signature.
