OLYMPIA — Convicted cop-killer Lonnie Link does not warrant a lighter sentence for shooting Spokane Police Officer Brian Orchard in 1983, even though he helped federal prosecutors bring down more than two dozen members of a criminal motorcycle gang after he went to prison, a state board said today.

The state Clemency and Pardons Board heard what members agreed was an extraordinary plea to commute Link’s sentence of life without parole to simply life, a move that could allow him to be released some day.

The prosecutor who convicted him, former County Prosecutor Don Brockett, and one of the detectives involved in the case, joined Link’s former defense attorney Mark Vovos in arguing for clemency for Link.

But the current prosecutor, Steve Tucker, joined members of Orchard’s family and other members of the state’s law enforcement community in arguing against it.

Read the rest of Jim Camden's story here.

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