‘My side of the story is self-defense’

A Spokane man accused of shooting two men to death over a car trade says the slayings were in self-defense.

Merle W. Harvey, 27, shot Jack T. Lamere, 41, and Jacob J. Potter, 45, after “three guys surrounded my truck with guns,” Harvey told a local TV station this week.

“My side of the story is self-defense,” Harvey (left) said in the videotaped interview with KREM-TV. “It could have been me and my girlfriend dead.”

Authorities, however, dismiss his claims.

Investigators allege the shooting deaths were planned, and a Spokane County District Court judge ordered Harvey held on $1 million bond for two first-degree murder charges after he and Diane L. Richardson were arrested Oct. 10 in Kennewick, two weeks after the Sept. 26 killings.

Richardson, 34, (right) is being held on $250,000 bail for one count of first-degree rendering criminal assistance.

Police say the couple stole a Jeep in North Idaho before crashing it into a canal after shoplifting from a convenience store, according to newly filed court documents.

Read the rest of my story here.

Read past coverage here, here and here.