West convicted of murder

A Clark County Superior Court jury on Tuesday convicted a former Camas-Washougal Fire battalion chief of first- and second-degree murder for strangling his wife to death in January 2024.

The jury deliberated just over two hours before handing down the verdicts against 52-year-old Kevin West. Both charges were found to be domestic violence related.

Friends and family filled the small courtroom Tuesday morning. West tearfully hugged loved ones after the verdict was read.

Clark County Jail corrections officers took West into custody after the verdict. People seated in the back of the courtroom quietly heckled him as he was escorted out.

West is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 27. The standard sentencing range for first-degree murder for someone with an offender score of zero is 20 to 26 years in prison. West’s offender score was not immediately known. For purposes of sentencing, West will only be sentenced on the first-degree murder charge.

During the two-week trial, which started Jan. 5, prosecutors argued West strangled his wife, Marcelle “Marcy” West, to death to pursue an extramarital affair with an old flame.

His now fiancée, Cynthia Ward, who prosecutors said motivated the murder, testified earlier in the trial that Kevin West intended to leave his wife because he and Ward’s affair was becoming serious.

However, Kevin West’s defense attorney, Brian Walker, argued that while Kevin West was having an affair, he didn’t kill his wife. The attorney said Marcy West had a history of headaches and persistent health issues that caused a seizure and ultimately led to her death.

Kevin West, who retired from his job as a battalion chief and was living on his pension, testified last week that he tried to help save his wife from a sudden medical emergency. He later told investigators his wife had been dealing with a recurring headache and persistent vomiting.

The Camas-Washougal fire and Washougal police departments responded to a call for a medical emergency in the early morning hours of Jan. 8, 2024, at the West residence on 34th Street in Washougal. Kevin West told first responders his wife was having a seizure and she had stopped breathing. Medics tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate her, and she was declared dead shortly after.

Prosecutors argued that Marcy West didn’t have a history of seizures. Deputy Prosecutor Melinda McMahon told jurors that the first responders trusted what they were told “because it wasn’t an unknown caller, it was a battalion chief. Someone that was a friend, someone that they trusted and most importantly someone that was trained in lifesaving measures.”

The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office didn’t immediately find anything suspicious in her autopsy. But tips sent into authorities prompted a second, more thorough examination focusing on Marcy West’s neck and head, where there were injuries to the carotid sheath and the carotid artery and esophagus. The office also found bruising behind the ears and between the skull and scalp. The medical examiner declared Marcy West’s cause of death to be asphyxia with blunt trauma to the neck.

Prosecutors argued the injuries were caused by vascular strangulation.

McMahon said the Clark County Sheriff’s Office took over the investigation into Marcy West’s death over concerns with impropriety.