Monica Walters, the former longtime Spokane YWCA executive director who’s suing the organization, is expected to continue testifying at a bench trial today in Superior Court.

The trial began last week before Judge Jerome Leveque.

Walters, who was director for 13 years, left the YWCA in February 2009. She filed a lawsuit in April 2009, alleging breach of contract, disability discrimination and privacy invasion.

Deborah Booth, president of the YWCA board at the time, released a statement in February saying Walters resigned for medical reasons:

“Everybody loves Monica, but it’s time for her to get out of the hectic crossfire of all this and get some time for herself.”

Booth retracted the statement a couple days later, saying  “my suggestion that Ms. Walters resigned for medical reasons was not accurate.” Oops!

A lawsuit by Walters’ attorney, Paul J. Burns, says the board breached Walters’ contract by interfering with her ability to manage day-to-day operations, including making hiring and firing decisions, causing “severe, medically diagnosable stress, mental anguish and emotional distress,” the lawsuit states.

Walters said that the medical condition was a disability and that the YWCA failed to accommodate it. The decision to discharge her “constitutes unlawful disability discrimination,” according to the lawsuit.

Walters’ invasion of privacy allegation stems from the YWCA’s disclosure to the media that Walters had resigned. Walters is seeking damages for economic loss, mental anguish and emotional distress.

Walters’ testimony began Thursday; no testimony was heard Friday.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh said Thursday that he will re-try two Coeur d’Alene brothers on malicious harassment charges stemming from a racial incident last summer.

Frank J. Tankovich, 46, and William M. Tankovich, 49, will be tried on charges of conspiracy to commit malicious harassment and malicious harassment, related to an incident that occurred in August. The brothers are accused of making racially motivated threats toward Kenneth Requena, who is Puerto Rican.

The brothers were tried earlier this month in Coeur d’Alene, along with a third brother, Ira G. Tankovich, 48, in the first hate-crime case to go to trial in North Idaho in recent years.

Read Alison Boggs’ story here.

Ira, Frank and William are pictured above from left to right.

Jurors convicted a North Idaho man of conspiracy to commit disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor, in the first hate-crime case to go to trial in Coeur d’Alene in recent years.

The jury hung on two counts against the man’s brothers.

Ira G. Tankovich, 48, (left) was charged with conspiracy to commit malicious harassment, while his brothers, William M. Tankovich, 49, and Frank J. Tankovich, 46, faced that charge as well as the charge of malicious harassment.

The charges stemmed from an August incident with a Coeur d’Alene man, Kenneth Requena. Ira Tankovich will be released on his own recognizance, having already served six months in jail — the equivalent to the maximum penalty on the misdemeanor conviction.

Read the rest of Alison Boggs’ story here.

Read past coverage here.

Closing arguments are expected today in the trial of three brothers accused of harassing a Coeur d’Alene men man because of his ethnicity.

The prosecution and defense rested Thursday in the trial of Ira G. Tankovich, 48, Frank J. Tankovich, 46, and William M. Tankovich, 49 (left to right). The brothers are charged with malicious harassment after an encounter with Kenneth Requena, who is Puerto Rican, in August.

The judge presiding over the trial said Thursday if he were ruling on the case instead of the jury, he wouldn’t convict.

Kootenai County 1st District Judge John Luster made the comment outside the presence of the jury while denying a defense motion to dismiss the case against three brothers accused of racially harassing a Hispanic man in August.

Read Alison Boggs’ story here.

Defense attorneys in the Coeur d’Alene hate crime trial of three brothers lost an attempt Wednesday to challenge the alleged victim’s credibility by introducing his criminal record, which includes felony convictions for illegally transporting guns.

At one point, defense attorney Brad Chapman asked the alleged victim, Kenneth Requena, if he was in the federal witness protection program, but the prosecution quickly objected and 1st District Judge John Luster threw the question out.

Read the rest of Alison Boggs’ story here.

By Thomas Clouse

The hate crime trial in Coeur d’Alene taught one of the defendants to check his gear before he draws a practical joke.

Deputy Prosecutor Art Verharen used an erasable board to have a witness draw how the Tankovichs’ pickup, which had a swastika and “born to kill” written in the dirt, parked in front of the home of Kenneth Requena in Coeur d’Alene.

During a trial break, Frank Tankovich (right) drew a smiley face on the board. But to Tankovich’s chagrin, he didn’t realize it was a permanent marker until he tried to erase the face before Kootenai County 1st District Judge John Luster returned to the courtroom.

At one point, Tankovich improvised by scribbling over the black permanent marker with the blue erasable marker. But Luster’s break lasted long enough for Tankovich to finally rub the board clean.

Read Clouse’s complete coverage of the trial’s opening day here.

Opening statements are expected today in the trial of three brothers accused of harassing a Coeur d’Alene man because of his ethnicity.

Ira Gino Tankovich, 47, Frank James Tankovich, 46, and William Michael Tankovich Jr., 49, (left to right) were indicted by a grand jury last under Idaho’s hate crime law.

The men were to stand trial last month, but Kootenai County 1st District Judge John Luster declared a mistrial after the jury heard a recording of a 911 made by a next-door neighbor, who called the incident “a racist thing.” (Read the story here.)

Selection of a new jury concluded Monday.

Ira Tankovich, who has a star with the word “Aryan” tattooed on his left calf and a star with the word “pride” tattooed on his right calf, was arrested Aug. 16 after Requena and his wife told police he’d been approached by Tankovich and his brothers in a truck decorated with swastikas and the words “born to kill.”

The men left after Requena got a gun from his wife, then returned about 20 minutes later with a gun and a pit bull, yelling racial slurs, according to court documents Requena told police he asked his wife to bring him a gun from inside the home when the men first pulled up because “he knew he was about to get a beat down,” according to a police report.

Frank and William Tankovich were arrested after a grand jury indicted them in November. William Tankovich posted $100,000 bail but was jailed in December after a judge ruled he’d fraudulently posted a property bond. He’s since been released on bond.

Their lawyers have characterized the Aug. 16 incident at the home of Kenneth H. Requena as a misunderstanding blown out of proportion after Aryan literature was distributed in Coeur d’Alene.

The brothers say they simply asked to buy electrical equipment from the man and were stunned when he pulled a gun on them.

A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in the trial of three Coeur d’Alene brothers accused of racially harassing a Hispanic family in August.

Kootenai County 1st District Judge John Luster declared the mistrial after Deputy Prosecutor Art Verharen played a recording of a 911 call made by witness Julie Oliver, a next-door neighbor. Oliver could be heard telling the dispatcher she believed the incident she saw from her kitchen window was “a racist thing,” and that her neighbor, Kenneth Requena, was being threatened.

A new trial for Ira Gino Tankovich, 47, Frank James Tankovich, 46, and William Michael Tankovich Jr., 49, (left to right) has been scheduled for April 12.

Read the rest of Alison Bogg’s story here

Previous coverage: CdA men deny hate crime allegations

Three brothers accused of harassing a Coeur d’Alene man because of his ethnicity will stand trial this week in Kootenai County District Court.

Opening statements are expected today in the trial of Ira Gino Tankovich, 47, Frank James Tankovich, 46, and William Michael Tankovich Jr., 49, (left to right) who were indicted by a grand jury last under Idaho’s hate crime law.

The men’s lawyers have characterized the Aug. 16 incident at the home of Kenneth H. Requena as a misunderstanding blown out of proportion after Aryan literature was distributed in Coeur d’Alene. The brothers say they simply asked to buy electrical equipment from the man and were stunned when he pulled a gun on them.

Ira Tankovich, who has a star with the word “Aryan” tattooed on his left calf and a star with the word “pride” tattooed on his right calf, was arrested the day of the incident after Requena and his wife told police he’d been approached by Tankovich and his brothers in a truck decorated with swastikas and the words “born to kill.”

The men left after Requena got a gun from his wife, then returned about 20 minutes later with a gun and a pit bull, yelling racial slurs, according to court documents Requena told police he asked his wife to bring him a gun from inside the home when the men first pulled up because “he knew he was about to get a beat down,” according to a police report.

Frank and William Tankovich were arrested after a grand jury indicted them in November. William Tankovich posted $100,000 bail but was jailed in December after a judge ruled he’d fraudulently posted a property bond. He’s since been released on bond.

William Tankovich faces up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Prosecutors amended charges against Ira and Frank Tankovich to declare them habitual offenders, which increases their potential penalty to five years to life in prison.

Read more about the case in this story from December: CdA men deny hate crime allegations

(AP) A Moscow man whose lawyer blamed caffeine-induced psychosis for alleged hit-and-run crashes at Washington State University in December has been released from a hospital and will face trial.

Dan Noble, 31, (left) has been declared fit to stand trial by doctors at Eastern State Hospital, said Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy.

He is charged with two felony counts of vehicular assault, two felony counts of hit and run and misdemeanor resisting arrest after being arrested in December.

Drivers on the highway between Moscow and Pullman reported Noble’s car driving erratically in the westbound lanes Monday morning, according to previously published reports.

Noble then turned onto Stadium Way, the main street through the WSU campus, where he allegedly struck students Hogun Hahm, 23, of Pullman, and Neil Waldbjorn, 19, of Malaga, Wash., in crosswalks about a block apart, according to the Associated Press. Both pedestrians suffered a broken leg and other injuries.

Noble then reportedly stopped and exited the vehicle at the intersection of Stadium Way and Grimes Way, about 175 yards from the second victim.

When WSU police approached him, Noble became “argumentative, incoherent, and resistive,” documents said. Officers used a Taser to subdue him.

Noble’s arraignment is set for April 9, court records show.

Noble’s attorney, Mark Moorer, has previously said his client was suffering from caffeine-induced psychosis brought on by too much coffee and energy drinks.

Past coverage: Lawyer: Blame it on the caffeine

A key witness in an upcoming murder trial is in jail after investigators say she broke contact with them.

Colleen Sue Janson, 49, was booked just after midnight Friday on a $100,000 material witness warrant out of Spokane County Superior Court, and a misdemeanor warrant for third-degree driving while license suspended.

Crime Stoppers had offered a reward for information leading to her capture on Thursday.

Janson is expected to testify next month at the trial of Terry L. Conner, a 53-year-old Spokane man accused of stabbing another man to death in an apartment at 2614 E. Third Ave on Dec. 7, 2008.

Aaron D. Lyon, 30, also is charged with the murder of Timothy G. Eby, 50. His trial is set for April. Both men are jailed on $1 million bonds.

Police think the men stabbed Eby to death in a drug-related robbery that netted $7.25, according to court documents.

Janson had been staying with Lyon and Conner at the Bel Air motel, 1303 E. Sprague, at the time of the crime.

Investigators think she may have broken contact with them “because of an ongoing drug and alcohol problem,” according to a news release.

Court documents show Janson is not believed to have been present when Eby was killed, but she told police she had heard Lyon and Conner planning the murder, and that Conner bragged about having killed other people.

Janson told police she’d asked Lyon and Conner where they were going before the murder, and “Conner said they were going to rob the drug dealer who burned Lyon for $40,” according to court documents.

Janson fell asleep and was awakened when the men returned and Conner was yelling at Lyon, saying Eby should have had $2,000, according to court documents.

When Janson asked what was wrong, Conner “grabbed her by the sweatshirt and said that he just ‘stabbed the (expletive deleted) 15 times for $7.25, what do you think of that you dumb (expletive deleted)’?”

Read a previous story: Slaying may have been over $7.25

A jury will decide next week whether Ronald Reo Timm will ever get out of state custody. But the question remains: How does someone molest 24 children in Spokane over a period of two decades and essentially remain out of public view?

The answer, according to prosecutors and Timm’s own admission, is that he sought his prey in broken homes and bought their silence with toys and candy.

“I would have children spend the night … and set them up for victimization,” Timm said in an interview taped for court proceedings. “How can I put this? Kids like adults unconditionally. What I’m trying to say is they were not as likely to say no.”

Read the rest of Thomas Clouse’s story here.

Closing arguments are expected tomorrow in the Morning Star Boys’ Ranch sex abuse trial.

The lengthy trial is the first of more than a dozen cases that could go to trial in Spokane County Superior Court.

On Thursday, the Rev. Joseph Weitensteiner (pictured above) said that he would sometimes get angry during his 52-year career at Morning Star Boys’ Ranch, but that he “never, never” sexually abused the boys in his care.

“I was a parent, and I did things that parents do,” said Morning Star’s former director, adding that included losing his temper at times.

Read Kevin Graman’s story: Former ranch director denies abuse allegations

Full coverage here.

A Spokane jury convicted a 33-year-old man Friday of kidnapping and robbing a woman after she bought him gas.

Jason P. Shepard forced 20-year-old Brittany C. Fields into her car just before 1 a.m. May 6 at the Albertson’s station at 6616 N. Nevada, then drove her to a residential area and stole her cell phone and debit card.

Fields had used the card to buy Shepard $10 in gas after he said he needed to drive to a hospital to see his sick baby.

Shepard, who is in Spokane County Jail, will be sentenced Feb. 16 for first-degree kidnapping, second-degree robbery and second-degree theft.

The jury of seven men and five women also convicted him of victimizing a Good Samaritan, which increases his prison time.

His accomplice, Crystal L. Fuller, 26, was sentenced to 13 months in prison in October after pleading guilty to second-degree kidnapping and second-degree robbery.

Read past coverage here.

A kidnapping and robbery suspect accused of victimizing a Good Samaritan will soon have his fate decided by a Spokane jury.

Jason P. Shepard, 33, is accused of conning a 20-year-old Spokane woman into thinking he needed gas to see his sick baby, then forcing her into her car and stealing her debit card and cell phone. Shepard was arrested shortly after the May incident.

Now a jury of 12 will decide whether to convict Shepard on charges of first-degree kidnapping, second-degree robbery and second-degree theft in a trial that began today in Spokane County Superior Court.

The prosecution’s star witness, Brittany C. Fields, testified this morning.

Fields was gassing up her car at the Albertson’s station at 6616 N. Nevada about 12:50 a.m. May 6 when Shepard asked for $5 to gas up his car, according to a report by Spokane police Detective Mark Burbridge.

Read the rest of my story in tomorrow’s Spokesman-Review.

A Spokane man police say has ties to the Rollin 60s Crips gang is on trial this week for an early-morning shooting outside a downtown night club more than a year ago.

Anthony D. Singh, 21, has been in jail since July 30, 2008, four days after a bullet struck Alex Tauala in his right shoe in a parking lot near Sprague and Stevens.

Police say Singh fired that bullet, which did not injure Tauala.

Now a jury will decide whether to convict Singh (pictured right in his MySpace photo) on charges of second-degree assault, drive-by shooting, conspiracy to commit first-degree assault, witness intimidation and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

His brother, 25-year-old Jamal Singh, pleaded guilty to riot last year and was given a year probation and credit for 24 days served in jail.

Police reports say the brothers were with two women, Jennifer Jacobs and Ashley Breesnee, when they were confronted by Tauula in the parking lot across the street from Jimmy’z bar.

They were then driven to a home at 1653 E. Ostrander in Breesnee’s Monte Carlo, where Jamal Singh retrieved a gun and put in the car’s trunk. They returned to the parking lot, where the Singhs got out of the car and confronted Tauala with the gun.

Anthony Singh is accused of taking Jacobs’ cell phone to prevent her from calling police. His ties to the violent Crips street gang is a factor in the prosecution’s case, which appears to paint the shooting as a gang war in the making.

According to a search warrant filed last week in Spokane County Superior Court, Jamal Singh called Breesnee a day after the shooting and said he didn’t believe the police were investigating.

“Jamal also told Breesnee that he beleive that ‘things were heating up and they wanted to be ready,’” the search warrant said.

“In the context of gang culture, respect is the center of the universe. A gang member acts either to gain or preserve respect or to tear down the respect garnered by a foe. Respect in gang culture is synonymous with fear and intimidation in mainstream culture as recognized by most American citizens,” Spokane police Detective Jeff Barrington wrote in the search warrnt, filed Dec. 8.

The warrant seeks access to Singh’s private MySpace page after his sister testified in court that they communicated through the wbe site prior to his arrest.

One witness in the case is cab driver Todd Hughes, who heard the gun shot and followed the Monte Carlo has it sped away. (In what appears to be an unrelated case, Hughes was assaulted at gunpoint last month in Spokane Valley.)

The trial will resume Tuesday morning before Judge Kathleen O’Connor. Larry Haskell is the prosecutor.

Jury selection began today in the trial of a teenager accused of shooting at two men in a motel parking lot late last year.

Anthony R. Covert, 19, was arrested in November, accused of shooting Shane L. Hagedorn in a dispute police say centered on a girl.

Police say Covert first acted like a victim when they found him under the Sunset Bridge after 10 rounds were fired in the West Wynn Motel parking lot on Sunset Boulevard. Police followed a blood trail to a hotel room, where they found Hagedorn.

Hagedorn had a knife but told police he didn’t used it.

“Hagedorn stated he is from the old school and settles disputes with his fist,” according to a probable cause affidavit.

Witnesses say Hagedorn and Joseph L. Castagna had confronted Covert and Ricky E. Grubbs after Grubbs called Daja M. Varnell at the hotel, according to Covert’s arrest papers. Varnell told police Grubbs had been harassing her, and that Hagedorn argued with Grubbs on the phone before agreeing to fight in the parking lot, according to the arrest papers.

Covert told police he brought a stolen .40-caliber Smith and Wesson handgun and fired it at the two after he saw Hagedorn take his coat off and “reach behind his back as if he had something,” according to court documents. “(Covert) stated that he did not realize the victim had been shot because the victim was able to run away.”

Covert is charged with first-degree attempted murder, two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault, possession of a stolen firearm, and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

Look for coverage of opening arguments this week. Read a previous story here.

Dale Nagy is prosecuting the case; Public Defender Al Rossi represents Covert. Judge Tari Eitzen is presiding over the trial.

Shawn Dale Botner’s adult life has been one of continual clashes with law enforcement.

The convicted sex offender, who twice attacked victims in women’s bathrooms, now awaits a jury’s decision on whether he ever will be a free man.

The jury went home Tuesday without deciding if Botner, 36, should be committed as a sexually violent predator and remain in a secure facility for life.

Read the rest of Thomas Clouse’s story here.

Read his coverage of opening statements here.

A judge has overturned a conviction that would have put a registered sex offender in prison for life.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Michael Price on Thursday ordered a new trial after a juror acknowledged she knew the defendant, Pierre D. West, prior to his May trial but claimed otherwise during jury selection.

Read Thomas Clouse’s story here.

Read past coverage of the case here.

A mistrial was declared in the trial of a young man accused of raping a woman at a party on Halloween 2007.

Kevin A. Thompson is charged with second-degree rape for the alleged attack at a home in the Whitworth University area.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Annette Plese declared the mistrial on June 23 after the jury submitted a question, according to court records.

Thompson’s first trial last November ended in a hung jury. The jury was made up of seven women and five men, with one man acting as an alternate juror.

A new trial is set for Aug. 17.

Thompson is represented by Scott Staab. Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Edward Hay is prosecuting the case, according to court records.

Read past coverage of the case here and here.