Renton man sentenced for 2023 Seattle homicide
Published 4:30 pm Monday, March 2, 2026
A Renton man was sentenced to nearly 31 years in prison for a 2023 Seattle stabbing.
On Feb. 6, James Dwight McClinton, 61, whose last known address was in Renton, was sentenced to a total of 371.50 months — nearly 31 years — in prison for second-degree murder with a deadly weapon. McClinton was convicted by a jury on Oct. 22, 2025. This conviction followed the jury finding McClinton not guilty of the charge of first-degree murder, but guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree murder.
This sentence stems from a Sept. 22, 2023, incident in Seattle, where McClinton fatally stabbed 38-year-old Devon Guion following a physical altercation at an apartment complex.
With 12 felonies on his record, McClinton had an offender score of 14, giving him a sentencing range of between 298 and 397 months, plus a 24-month deadly weapon enhancement. Prosecutors recommended that McClinton serve 347.50 months, plus the 24-month weapon enhancement, which the judge followed.
McClinton’s defense requested that he be sentenced below the standard sentencing range, requesting a total of 10 years. McClinton’s defense cited that the downward sentence was warranted because the incident was provoked by the victim, McClinton had a failed self-defense argument, and that he had post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of the incident.
According to a victim impact statement from Guion’s mother, Guion had a carefree, happy-go-lucky personality, and he was always joking and laughing.
“James Dwight McClinton Jr. changed the course of our lives forever,” Guion’s mother said. “By taking Devon’s life, he robbed my son of his future and severed his relationships as a father, son, brother, cousin, nephew, uncle and grandson.”
Details of the case
According to court documents, surveillance footage of the incident showed a physical altercation between McClinton and Guion prior to the stabbing, with the two men pushing and shoving each other in front of the apartment McClinton was in. After the altercation, Guion headed for the elevators as McClinton retrieved a knife from the apartment.
Taking the adjacent elevator to the first floor, McClinton searched for Guion outside the front of the building prior to walking back inside. At the elevator lobby area, one of the elevators opened. McClinton looked into the elevator to find Guion alone. McClinton “immediately” lunged into the elevator and attacked Guion with the knife, according to documents.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office’s autopsy of Guion showed a deep slashing injury to the right arm that hit bone, and a stabbing injury to the upper torso that hit Guion’s aorta, resulting in significant bleeding into the left chest cavity. The medical examiner determined the stab wound served as the cause of Guion’s death.
McClinton stepped around Guion as he lay face down bleeding on the floor and fled the scene on foot, according to documents.
Seattle police were dispatched to the building at approximately 5:10 p.m. after receiving a call from a staff member of the facility. Officers arrived and located Guion in the elevator lobby area on the first floor of the building. First responders pronounced Guion deceased in the ambulance at the scene, according to documents.
Police arrested McClinton four days after the stabbing on Sept. 26, 2023, in the 500 block of Fifth Avenue in Seattle, according to documents. McClinton holds a criminal history dating back to 1983, with convictions including robbery in the first degree, burglary in the second degree, theft in the first degree and more.
