An accomplice to the murder of a state witness in 2008 has been sentenced to just over two years in prison.

Carl A. Hoskins, 58, will receive credit for time served in jail, where he was incarcerated from May 2008 until August 2009, when prosecutors allowed him to leave jail after agreeing to a tentative plea bargain.

Hoskins agreed to testify again Christopher Devlin but never was called to the stand during the trial last summer. Devlin died at the Spokane County Jail in September in an apparent suicide. He'd been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole a few days earlier.

Devlin was to go to trial for allegedly assaulting Daniel D. Heily, 52, of Chattaroy, when Heily was found shot to death in the cab of his pickup truck behind a Deer Park liquor store in May 2008.

Hoskins originally was charged with first-degree murder but instead pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, intimidating a witness and first-degree rendering criminal assistance.

Superior Court Judge Jerome Leveque sentenced him Monday to 27 months in prison and ordered him to pay $1,434 in restitution.

Hoskins, who was close friends with Heily, apologized at the hearing. Heily's family declined to submit a victim impact statement for Hoskins, saying they felt he, too, was victimized by Devlin, a court clerk said.
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