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FACING LIFE - Drunken teen charged in stabbing; if convicted, he'd become youngest third-striker in Washington history
Colleen Dever holds a photo of two of her sons, Williams Loyer, 18, and Logan, 2. William Loyer is in jail awaiting trial after being charged with his third felony. If convicted, he will become the state's youngest person serving a mandatory life sentence. "He has a good heart," his mother said. "I tried to save him." (STEVEN LANE/The Columbian)
FACING LIFE - Drunken teen charged in stabbing; if convicted, he'd become youngest third-striker in Washington history
Hazel Dell teenager William James Loyer drinks. And when he's drunk, he fights.
That M.O. has him on the cusp of distinction: The youngest person statewide to "strike out."
Loyer, 18, has never even been to prison. The sentences for each of his first two strikes were for less than a year, so he served them in the Clark County Jail.
But he's headed to prison for life if convicted of a charge that on Sept. 29 he assaulted a pizza delivery man.
Loyer will remain in jail pending trial, currently set for Dec. 4.
His court-appointed defense attorney, Lee Baker, said he may ask for more time to prepare.
Loyer's mother, Colleen A. Dever, said "she'll die" if her son gets a life sentence. She knows he has problems but said he shouldn't be written off as a lost cause.
"He's had a really hard life," she said. "He never stood a chance."
Dever, 41, lost custody of four children, including William, in 1993 when she and her husband divorced. The children were sent to live with their paternal grandparents, who have since divorced. William's father, James J. Loyer, was convicted of robbery in 2003 and sentenced to five years in an Oregon prison.
While Dever lost custody because of her own substance abuse, she said her ex-husband shuttled William "from drug house to drug house," and turned him into an addict at a young age.
She said she used speed until she was six months pregnant with William because she didn't know about her condition.
"This kid was abused since he was inside of me," said Dever, who lives in a Hazel Dell apartment with her two youngest children, ages 6 and 2. "He's never had any love."
Under the state's 1994 persistent offender law, however, a poor upbringing doesn't merit leniency.
If Loyer does go to trial, it will be his first time in front of a jury.
For his first two strikes, Loyer accepted plea deals. His court-appointed attorneys in those cases, when they heard Loyer had been arrested for a third strike, reacted with frustrated sighs.
"I thought that kid was going to get his act together," said Robert Vukanovich, who got Loyer's 2004 first-degree assault charge reduced to second-degree attempted assault. In that case, Loyer had stabbed a 22-year-old who'd bought Loyer and his friends alcohol. The victim, who was stabbed in the stomach, was not seriously injured. Loyer had claimed he was defending himself, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge rather than risk a trial and potential prison sentence.
Vukanovich said Loyer was a scared teenager, not a seasoned thug.
"He wasn't one of these kids who come across as cocky. He didn't seem like the type who goes looking for trouble," he said.
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