Twelve-year-old Marshal Starbuck was called to testify about the death of his mom and what he remembers about the actions of Clay Starbuck on the day Marshal’s life got turned upside down.

Day two of the first-degree murder trial of Clay D. Starbuck also featured photos from the crime scene. The jury for the first time saw how the killer placed 42-year-old Chanin D. Starbuck in a sexually suggestive position.

Based on a brief 911 call on Dec. 1, 2011, investigators believe someone killed the Chanin Starbuck on that day.

Clay Starbuck, who called Crime Check to check on his ex-wife on Dec. 2, told investigators that he texted his ex-wife to take their youngest three children to school after his balky 1988 Toyota Tercel broke down on Dec. 1.

Steinmetz asked 12-year-old Marshal about that day, and he relayed the same story as his father.

He said Chanin Starbuck took them to school that day “because our dad was driving around the golf course to warm it up because it has some problems,” Marshal said. “It always broke down. Honestly, it was a really bad car.”

Burglars stole or damaged all the appliances in a home that’s vacant and for sale near the 4000 block of West Richland Road.
The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said the home’s property manager discovered the theft of the refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher and washer and dryer. The stove and oven had been moved but not stolen, and there was severe water damage to the kitchen floor, according to a news release. The Sheriff’s Office said it’s common for burglars to steal appliances and sell them for scrap.
The burglary was reported on May 6.
Crime Stoppers, a civilian organization that’s not affiliated with law enforcement, is offering a cash reward for information leading to an arrest. Call 1-800-222-TIPS or visit www.crimestoppersinlandnorthwest.org. Tipsters don’t have to give their names to collect the reward.
  

A man suspected of pulling the trigger in a fatal shooting at a north Spokane home last week will appear in court Friday afternoon.

The tattoo-covered accused killer, Joshua T. Tillery, 33, was expected in Spokane County Superior Court, but a court clerk said he didn't show up because he was sick.

Spokane Police Department detectives learned Tillery was hiding at 2012 N. Ruby Street on Wednesday and organized surveillance with U.S. Marshals agents at the address, prior news reports said. 

A quick swoop of authorities took Tillery into custody within five minutes, police said.

He's accused of shooting Devon Mack, 33, in the head following a heated argument with a struggle at 4508 N. Lincoln last week. 

The Washington State Supreme Court today overturned the second-degree rape conviction of a Spokane man, saying the trial judge violated the man’s right to a fair trial by including a jury instruction that the defense didn’t want.

In the 6-3 decision, the state’s high court ordered a new trial for Brandon S. Coristine, who was 22 when he was convicted in January 2010 of second-degree rape following an incident in 2009.

Spokane County prosecutors charged Coristine under the argument that the victim was too intoxicated to give consent for sex, which the defense argued was consensual.

At the end of the trial, Superior Court Judge Michael Price agreed with the prosecutor to give an instruction to the jury stating that the defendant reasonably believed that the woman gave consent. The instruction further stated that it was the burden on Coristine to prove that the woman gave consent for sex by a preponderance of the evidence.

But in the 6-3 decision, the majority of justices ruled that offering the jury instruction violated Coristine’s right to a fair trial. They reversed a decision by the Division III Court of Appeals and sent the case back to Spokane County Superior Court for a new trial.

We heard this gem on the scanner. Apparently this isn't the first rodeo for a dispatcher looking up a suspect's information for an officer. 

5-3-2013 @ 9:01 PM

Dispatcher: Not only did he give a bad phone number, but he gave a bad birth date.

Officer: I'm shocked.

SEATTLE (AP) — Police say a man who appeared very intoxicated took off for a short time Thursday afternoon in a Seattle police car.  

Spokane County Sheriff’s Office deputies believe a man working on his paintball gun triggered lock downs at nine Spokane Valley schools Thursday morning.

A woman told deputies she saw a man carrying a gun and shooting it into the ground near 28th Avenue and Blake Street around 10:45 a.m., according to a Sheriff’s Office news release, but authorties could not locate a suspect.

Several Central Valley School District schools were briefly locked down during the extensive search, the release said.

Later that day, a man called deputies to say he was in the area taking a CO2 cartridge off his paintball gun – an action that creates a loud popping noise. He realized the woman likely heard this sound.

No shots were fired, deputies determined.

Here's one of the best things we've heard on the scanner in recent weeks: 

5/2/2013 @ 5:51 p.m. - “Not sure if clowns are involved, but all the subjects are leaving in a vehicle.”

Unfortunately, we lack further information to provide context to the quote. 

Border Patrol agents found a man sleeping inside a stolen car near Sullivan Lake Tuesday after authorities were tipped to suspicious activity over the weekend.

A man told a Pend Oreille County Sheriff's deputy a stranger parked on his property near Ione on April 28 and said he ran out of gas. The man noticed some unusual behavior by the stranger and wrote down his vehicle's license plate number while his father bought him gas, according to a Sheriff's Office news release.

The deputy later learned the 2001 Ford Expedition was reported stolen out of Hubbard, Oregon on April 7, the release said. The deputy notified U.S. Border Patrol and an agent spotted the vehicle on April 29 during a foot patrol near the Canadian Border. The stolen vehicle's driver saw the agent and fled the area, the release added.

Border Patrol agents found the stolen vehicle around 10 a.m. on Tuesday and found the man sleeping inside. He did not have identification on him and refused to tell authorities his identity. The Sheriff's Office described him as a white male in his late 20s.

He's being held at Pend Oreille County Jail on charges of possessing a stolen vehicle and stolen property.

Spokane County Sheriff's Office shared surveillance stills of a man suspected of robbing a Spokane Valley head shop. | Photo: Spokane County Sheriff's Office

Spokane County Sheriff's Office needs help identifiying a man suspected of stealing a pack of Captain Kratom Thai powder from a Spokane Valley Puffin Glass store on April 11, according to a Sheriff's Office news release.

The suspect asked to see the product, described as an organic pain reliever by an Puffin Glass employee, but he ran out of the store with the tablets around 7:15 p.m. and didn't pay for them, an employee told authorities.

The employee chased the suspect out of the 12023 E. Sprague store, but the suspect pulled out a knife and threatened him. 

Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspect. To report a tip, call 1 (800) 222-TIPS or go online to www.crimestoppersinlandnorthwest.org.

WOODINVILLE, Wash. (AP) — A homicide victim’s body has been found at a Washington state home owned by the man who packed the parachutes used by infamous airplane hijacker D.B. Cooper.

King County sheriff’s detectives responded to the Seattle suburb of Woodinville on Friday night after a woman called to say she had found her father dead. She reported that she had gone to the house to check on him because she hadn’t heard from him in several days.

The victim’s identity has not been released. But Sgt. Cindi West said Saturday that investigators have ruled the case a homicide.

Property records show the house is owned by 74-year-old Earl Cossey.

When DB Cooper hijacked a passenger jet from Portland, Ore., to Seattle in 1971, demanding $200,000 and four parachutes, it was Cossey who packed the chutes.

After asking to be flown to Mexico, Cooper jumped out somewhere near the Oregon line. Some of the cash has been found, but his fate is unknown, and investigators doubt he survived.

Spokesman-Review archives: In 2008, Cossey was quoted as saying: “They keep bringing me garbage. Every time they find squat, they bring it out and open their trunk and say, ‘Is that it?’ and I say, ‘Nope, go away.’ Then a few years later they come back.”

Reports described Cossey as a man from Woodinville, Wash., who packed the parachutes demanded by fabled airplane hijacker D.B. Cooper, after telling authorities that the chute found recently in southwestern Washington was not used in Cooper’s 1971 crime.

Federal agents caught a fugitive in Spokane Valley after he was found hiding in an outhouse.

Travis W. Beavers, 20, fled authorities and ditched his car near Dishman Mica Road and Appleway Boulevard around 9 p.m. on Wednesday.

Spokane Valley Sheriff’s deputies helped federal agents set up a police perimeter to find the convicted felon. Spokane County Sheriff’s K-9 dog Laslo tracked Beavers to an outhouse several blocks from the abandoned car.

Beavers refused to leave the bathroom because he was scared of Laslo based on his prior history with K-9 units, but Deputy Jeff Thurman released the dog to get him.

Beavers was taken into custody by federal agents after being treated by a local hospital. He’s in custody at Spokane County Jail for federal charges of possessing a firearm, according to recently filed federal court documents. Investigators found a .270 caliber rifle on his person.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigators sealed the probable cause for arrest in U.S. District Court because it talking about an ongoing investigation from confidential informants, court documents show. Beavers is expected in court on April 30th at 1:30 p.m.

Beavers was previously convicted of stealing a car and possessing stolen property in 2012, in addition to burglary and possessing drugs.

Previously released footage from Pullman Police Department on Youtube shows the assault suspects leaving the Adams Mall parking lot following last month's assault of a Washington State University instructor.

A video containing excerpts of surveillance camera footage from the night a Washington State University instructor was assaulted was released to The Spokesman-Review by police and published on the news company’s website for several hours on Thursday.

A Pullman Police records clerk mailed a disk containing 30 minutes of footage from five surveillance cameras to staff writer Nicole Hensley in response to a public records request.

Shortly after the video was posted Thursday afternoon, Pullman Police Chief Gary Jenkins informed the reporter that the video had been released in error, but did not request that it be taken down from spokesman.com. Several hours later, however, Jenkins asked that it be removed from the website because its release “could potentially hamper and impede our active investigation of this case.”

The Spokesman-Review agreed to that request, but reserves the right to re-post the video if formal charges are filed in the case. Three people have been arrested but not charged in connection with the assault.

Editor Gary Graham noted that the video was obtained legally, given to the newspaper by the Pullman Police Department. However, “In the spirit of cooperation with an active police investigation, we have agreed to remove it from our website.”

The video shows a confrontation between the instructor, David Warner, his friend, and the suspects identified by Pullman police. It also also shows emergency responders arriving on scene and a large crowd gathering around Warner’s prone body.

Warner was transported to Providence Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane and remained there in critical condition for two weeks. His condition has improved and he’s now at a rehabilitation center in Post Falls.

Warner can be seen stretching his arms out between two feuding parties before he’s tackled to the ground by a group of men around 1:57 a.m. on March 30. He fell to the ground, out of sight behind a parked car near 600 NE Colorado Street.

Justin C. Werle appeared in court Wednesday afternoon and was given a $500,000 bond. Photo: Nicole Hensley

A missing work glove led to a shooting between a Browne’s Addition apartment tenant and his building’s handyman.

Spokane Police officers arrested Justin C. Werle Tuesday night after they closed off several blocks in the neighborhood and called a SWAT team to find the alleged shooter at the Pacific Terrace Apartments in the 2200 block of West Pacific.

The victim, identified as Zachary Bergstrom in court documents, told authorities a feud began earlier on Tuesday when Werle confronted him about a missing work glove, he told authorities. A shoving match started later that day between the two and Werle pulled out a gun and shot Bergstrom in the neck in the building’s alleyway.

Bergstrom clutched his neck and ran to the manager’s office where 911 was notified of the shooting, court documents show. He was alert and talking when medics took him to the hospital.

A K-9 unit dog tracked an unsuccessful lead to another apartment, officers said, but detectives called Werle’s mother, Donna Werle, and learned he wasn’t there.

She told detectives Werle called her and said he did not want to be taken alive and would shoot himself, but she convinced him to wait for police at her home. Officers found Werle walking near 13th Avenue and Coeur d’Alene Street.

The shooting of two Spokane County sheriff's deputies last year by a reputed heroin trafficker with a penchant for firearms and a long history of felony convictions is now getting national attention.

Above is a YouTube trailer for a new documentary, produced by the NRA as part of its Life of Duty series, which takes viewers on an in-depth look at the shocking case from the perspectives of those who survived it. Called “Catch & Release,” the documentary takes a critical look at U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno's decision to release accused drug kingpin Charles Wallace into an unsecured drug treatment facility in Spokane Valley while awaiting trial — over the objections of the cops and federal prosecutors familiar with the case.

As those of us in Spokane know all too well, Wallace quickly walked away from the American Behavioral Health Systems facility to a waiting car. A few days later he would open fire on Deputies Matt Spink and Mike Northway, critically wounding both and sparking a rolling gun battle and wild chase that ended north of Deer Park when Wallace crashed at a police blockade and then took his own life.

The Spokesman-Review interviewed the deputies last year for a gripping story about their ordeal. The magistrate, Imbrogno, has a history of controversial pre-trial release decisions but she's also been accused by defense attorneys of being too tough.

The full documentary can be viewed here.

Spokane County Sheriff’s Office detectives found several firearms inside a South Hill home where a man shot and killed himself Sunday.

Detectives seized five assault rifles and four hand guns from the 4500 block of East Sumac Drive where 62-year-old Warren C. Schrempp, Jr. was growing marijuana at a foreclosed home, according to recently filed court documents.

Detectives cataloged three of the weapons as loaded including an AK-47-style rifle, a Glock and Makarov pistol. They also found four adult marijuana plants and 10 starter plants. Schrempp had authorization to grow medical marijuana, court documents show.

Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office called Schrempp’s death a suicide. A real estate agent called police after a locksmith smelled marijuana at the property and saw a car in the garage, they told authorities.

Sheriff’s detectives found a sliding door open and announced their presence, but they heard a muffled gunshot and called a SWAT team, previous reports said.

Spokane Police officers have arrested a man suspected of stabbing a man several times outside a downtown Spokane bar last month.

Tony M. Noble, 35, was identified by employees of Bowl’z, Bitez and Spirtz as a possible suspect for stabbing a male victim ten times on March 31. The victim, identified as Sean Rushing, had stab wounds all over his body and was rushed to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center. He had two collapsed lungs, officers said in recently filed court documents.

Rushing told police he left the bar around 1:45 a.m. and got into a fight. He thought he was being punched, but later woke up and learned he had been stabbed in the head, left eye, back neck, left arm and chest, court documents said.

A friend drove him to the hospital after she found him bleeding in the passenger seat of her car.

The next day, Noble told his manager at a north Spokane Zip Trip that he was jumped by some men from California. He had a black eye, the manager told police.

Detectives watched surveillance footage and saw Rushing approach someone and grab their arm. The person hit Rushing in the face. Another person held a shiny object in their hand that appeared to be a knife, detectives said.

Detectives charged Noble with first-degree assault. Noble is in custody at Spokane County Jail with a $35,000 bond.

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington state is delaying its timeline for granting marijuana growing and processing licenses — and that means legal marijuana sales likely won't begin before spring of next year.

Rather than issue growing licenses this summer and processor licenses this fall, as called for in a tentative prior timeline, the Liquor Control Board will issue all licenses Dec. 1, spokesman Brian Smith said Wednesday.

That means the growers likely won't be able to get to work until December, and the final product won't be ready for a couple of months after that, Smith said.

Washington joined Colorado last fall in becoming the first states to legalize recreational marijuana for adults over 21, and to allow the sale of taxed pot at state-licensed stores. Washington's Liquor Control Board has been devising rules for the industry, covering topics such as how the plants will be grown, how marijuana products will be tested for strength and quality, and how many retail stores will be allowed.

Issuing all the licenses at once will help growers because they'll have a better picture of the industry before they begin growing, Smith said.

“If you were interested in becoming any of our licensees, you'd want to have a good idea of what the business landscape is going to be,” he said. “For example, if you want to grow, how much competition will you have? How many retailers will there be? You'll be able to get a sense of that right from the beginning.”

The official timeline announced Wednesday was based on input from public forums that the board held around the state regarding its implementation of Initiative 502.

The board will begin vetting draft rules for all license types with stakeholders in mid-May. The rules are expected to become effective in August, and the board will begin accepting applications for growing, processing and retailing licenses in September.

With tax day looming, career criminals should take note.

The IRS is advising that all earnings, including those obtained illegally, must be reported as income for tax purposes. Additionally, criminal enterprises are ineligible for the types of business deductions enjoyed by companies engaged in lawful activities.

Before simply dismissing this as a bunch of bureaucratic nonsense, keep in mind that uber gangster Al Capone was taken down not for extortion or murder but on tax evasion for failing to report his ill-gotten gains to the IRS.

Here's how the advisory appears on the IRS website:

Illegal activities.   Income from illegal activities, such as money from dealing illegal drugs, must be included in your income on Form 1040, line 21, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity.

Potential benefits for disclosing illegal income include the possibility of being able to deduct it from future tax returns if you're ever convicted later and ordered to pay restitution.

Remember, don't shoot the messenger.