Murder conviction man’s ‘third strike’
A faulty videotape of his confession to killing a traveling salvage crew foreman last October wasn’t enough to keep a 28-year-old Spokane man from being sent to prison Wednesday for the rest of his life.
Shooting Waterloo, Iowa, resident Martin H. Doerring, 43, was the third and final “strike” for 28-year-old Devenniyon Marquise Courtney, Spokane County Superior Court Judge Jerome Leveque ruled. Under Washington’s three-strikes law, Leveque had no choice but to send Courtney to prison, without the possibility of parole.
Courtney’s previous “strikes” – unrelated convictions for serious, violent offenses – included a second-degree child-molestation conviction in 1999 and a first-degree burglary conviction in 2002.
In addition, Courtney was convicted of felony harassment last year in a domestic-violence case, for which he was sentenced to nine months in jail. Shortly after his release, Courtney murdered Doerring in a botched robbery at a motel room on North Division, where Doerring was staying with two co-workers, Clifton Brown III and Martin G. Moyer.
Police believe Courtney targeted the men after learning they carried a substantial amount of cash.
Courtney knocked on their motel door early Oct. 19 and confronted Brown and Moyer with a .22-caliber revolver. He took a small amount of cash and demanded more. Brown and Moyer told Courtney that Doerring, who was out, had most of their money.
Courtney waited for Doerring, who put up a fight and was shot to death when he returned.
A jury convicted Courtney in May of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, two counts of first-degree robbery and one count of attempted first-degree robbery. The jury deadlocked on whether Courtney was guilty of two counts of first-degree kidnapping.
Assistant Public Defender Doug Boe argued unsuccessfully Wednesday that Courtney’s constitutional rights were violated when Leveque allowed the jury to hear Courtney’s videotaped confession. He cited a state law that says a taped confession may not be admissible in court if it doesn’t begin with a reading of the suspect’s constitutional rights.
Deputy Prosecutor Matt Duggan said officers were prepared to testify that Courtney was read his rights, but an officer inadvertently turned on the recorder too late to catch the warning and a bit of conversation. There was plenty of evidence to convict Courtney even without the taped confession, Duggan said.
Leveque ruled that Courtney was warned of his rights, and failure to record the warning wasn’t a constitutional problem that would require overturning his conviction.