A 52-year-old man who has spent more than three decades in prison serving a life sentence for his part in the murder of an Orting store clerk was resentenced Tuesday and will soon be released.
Dwayne Russell Satterfield was 18 years old on March 18, 1991, when he and three other teenagers entered the Jackpot Food Mart with the intention of killing 25-year-old Linda Miller and stealing from the store. Ansel Hofstetter, then 16, shot the woman twice with a rifle before the group made off with a few cartons of cigarettes and the cash register containing less than $100.
Satterfield helped plan the robbery with the shooter, plotting Miller’s death so that there would be no witnesses — a fact that led jurors to convict him of aggravated first-degree murder. That conviction guaranteed him a sentence of life in prison without parole.
A 2021 Washington State Supreme Court decision found such punishments to be unconstitutional for young offenders , and in May the high court issued a decision in State v. Carter , finding that sentencing courts have the option to give people aged 18-20 who were convicted of aggravated murder a sentence with a set length of time.
In Pierce County Superior Court on Tuesday morning, Judge Timothy Ashcraft, with the blessing of the victim’s daughter, Trista, who was an infant when the shooting occurred, sentenced Satterfield to time served, 33 years, four months. Pierce County prosecutors and the defendant’s attorney agreed to recommend that sentence, and Ashcraft said the intention was for Satterfield to be released as soon as possible.
Satterfield, who has most recently been incarcerated at Airway Heights Corrections Center, west of Spokane, attended the hearing via Zoom. Before hearing the judge’s decision, he reminded the court of his last resentencing hearing, in January 2023, when Trista Miller forgave him in open court for his crime.
“I was thunderstruck by it,” Satterfield said of being forgiven. “In her eloquent words, she removed from me 30 years of shame and regret. I will be eternally grateful and humbled for her selfless act and compassion.”
The defendant promised to be a success when he re-enters society, telling the court that if he were released, he would leave prison with joy, hope and skills to propel him to greatness.
Satterfield is the final defendant in the murder of Linda Miller whose release has been authorized. Deputy prosecuting attorney Brittany North, who handled Tuesday’s resentencing for the state, told The News Tribune after court adjourned that Hofstetter was released sometime after he was resentenced to 26 years to life in 2016 . The other two defendants who pleaded guilty to lesser charges in the case have long been out of prison.
During his decades of incarceration, Satterfield has undergone a personal transformation, according to his defense attorney, Paul Michael Holland, an associate dean and associate professor at Seattle University School of Law. In a memorandum submitted to the court, Holland wrote that the court heard extensive evidence about the neglect and abuse Satterfield suffered as a child at the hands of his parents.
The abuse came with psychological attachment issues and an instability that followed Satterfield through adolescence and up to the fatal shooting, Holland wrote. In prison, Satterfield has taught yoga classes through the statewide nonprofit Yoga Behind Bars, completed a wide range of correspondence courses, developed carpentry skills and tended beehives at Airway Heights Corrections Center.
In a letter written prior to Satterfield’s 2023 resentencing hearing, the former executive director of Yoga Behind Bars, Rosa Vissers, said that hundreds of incarcerated men have taken Satterfield’s classes, where he shared with them tools to increase their self-awareness and impulse control while bringing self-deprecating humor and compassion to his teaching.
In court, Satterfield’s attorney told Ashcraft he believed that the structures were in place to help his client successfully re-enter the community. According to court records, Satterfield plans to live in the Aberdeen area, and a number of employers in construction have been identified for him to contact, as well as a fitness center in Ocean Shores.
“When you look at what Mr. Satterfield has done by himself and what the community around him is prepared to do, I believe there is great cause for confidence,” Holland said.
After Ashcraft imposed the sentence, the judge gave Satterfield his best wishes.
“Good luck with your new life,” Ashcraft said.
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