BOISE -- 32-years after Dixie Wilson was murdered at a Garden City gas station, her killer Lacey Sivak has been re-sentenced to life in prison.
Sivak was previously on death row, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the sentence on Wednesday.
Deputy Prosecutor Roger Bourne told KTVB that Wilson's family is pleased with the most recent decision.
More than three decades ago, the murder of a Dixie Wilson's murder shocked the community and devastated her family, and the continued court proceedings of her killer, Lacey Sivak, continue to haunt them.
This has been terrible for them. They've gone through a searing thing when they were children, and...here they are in their forties, and this hasn't been done yet, and they have to keep revisiting it, said Deputy Prosecutor Roger Bourne. It was like the judge said, it was like going to a funeral over and over.
Wilson's family chose to leave the courtroom on Wednesday, before Sivak made his case to the judge.
Sivak spoke for more than two hours, still denying killing Wilson and claiming he was merely there when it happened, and under the influence of drugs.
We went on in there, and that's when he pulled the gun and did the crime. I had no idea that the crime was going to happen, said Sivak. I've never taken a life, and I don't feel there's anything I could have done, or I probably would have been dead.
Sivak's attorneys argued he has already served years on death row, and asked he be given the opportunity for parole in future years. But Judge Ronald Wilper said Sivak has shown no remorse, and his explanation for how the murder happened is ridiculous.
I believe that a lengthy term of imprisonment will provide appropriate punishment and deterrent to the defendant, and it will provide an appropriate deterrent for other people in the community, said Judge Wilper.
So while no longer on death row, Sivak will serve the remainder of his life in prison without a chance of getting out early.
I've always had the position that for what he did, Mr. Sivak deserves the death penalty, but under the present circumstances of the case, this is what we ask for and we're satisfied that this is the right thing under the circumstances, said Deputy Prosecutor Roger Bourne.
Although Sivak has received this new sentence, he still may try to appeal it.
