Michael Chad Boysen, 26, was charged Thursday with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his grandparents March 9 in their Fairwood home.
Boysen of Renton, who has a criminal record for residential burglary, could face the death penalty.
Boysen is accused of murdering his grandparents Norma and Robert Taylor just hours after they picked him up at the state prison in Monroe. He was arrested on March 12 in Lincoln City, Ore., after a 10-hour standoff with police.
Arraignment is scheduled for April 4 at 9 a.m. at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.
Boysen would face two possible sentences if convicted, life in prison without release or the death penalty, according to Dan Donohoe, a spokesman for King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg.
The law requires that the prosecutor review the case over the next 30 days to determine whether to file written notice of a special sentencing proceeding to determine whether the death penalty should be imposed, or whether sufficient mitigating circumstances exist to merit leniency, according to Donohoe.
“This decision includes a careful examination of all the evidence. If additional time is needed, we may ask the court to grant more time to make that decision,” Donohoe said in a press release.
The state Department of Corrections transferred Boysen into the custody of King County Tuesday, in anticipation of the filing of charges, according to Chad Lewis, a corrections spokesman. Boysen was booked into the King County Jail at about 12:45 p.m. Thursday after a stay at a Portland hospital, where he was treated for self-inflicted cuts.
Besides the murder charges, Boysen also faces a corrections department hearing over allegations he violated the terms of his community supervision, including failing to report to his community corrections officer, failing to enter and complete chemical-dependency treatment and leaving the state without permission. That hearing likely will be held at the King County Jail.
The initial state plan was to transfer to the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton, but opted to transfer him instead to the King County Jail because of the county charges.
