New father sentenced in home invasion robberies

A 23-year-old Spokane man was sent to prison for home-invasion robberies the man said he wouldn’t have committed if he had known he was about to become a father.

Calvin Jay Washington apologized to his victims, but asked Superior Court Judge Linda Tompkins to give him a minimum-standard 71/2-year sentence so he could “be a productive father to my daughter” as soon as possible. He asked Tompkins to at least let him hold the infant for the first time before he goes to prison.

His victims were unimpressed.

“He had no feeling for the impact on my child when he broke in,” said Maria Benavides, who was in bed when Washington and others broke down her door about 3 a.m. on April 24.

Court documents say one of the group that entered Benavides’ apartment in the 1500 block of West Seventh jumped on top of her and ordered her to keep her head under the blankets while she was robbed.

Louis Cumming, who was similarly robbed, felt the same say.

“If he wanted to have a relationship with his child, he should have taken that into consideration before breaking into my house,” Cumming told Tompkins.

Cumming and his wife, Angela, were asleep in their home in the 3700 block of South Gandy when their front door was kicked in on April 19 shortly before 5 a.m. Cumming went to investigate, and was forced back into bed by one of the robbers. The robbers ordered the couple to cover their faces.

Washington is the first of four suspects to be convicted of the home invasions and the April 22 robbery of a man who was beaten senseless and relieved of $160 outside the Top Hat Tavern at 6412 N. Division.

In the tavern incident, Rodrick R. Magdall told police two women he didn’t know made conversation with him inside the bar and one of them approached him in the parking lot when he left. He said the woman gave him a hug and two men he hadn’t seen attacked him.

Deputy Prosecutor Eugene Cruz said tentative agreements have been reached with Gigi T. Rhea, 23, who is scheduled to plead guilty Monday, and with Krista D. Gardner, 34. Tucero Antonio Knippling, 23, faces trial Nov. 7 on a list of charges.

Court-appointed defense attorney John Nollette didn’t dispute the maximum-standard 9 2/3-year sentence specified in the bargain Washington accepted when he pleaded guilty last month to second-degree robbery and two counts of first-degree robbery. But Nollette said Washington’s fetal alcohol syndrome helped explain his “vicious and criminal conduct.”

Nollette said Washington’s desire to spend time with his daughter while she is still a child was one of the reasons he pleaded guilty.

Washington, who was raised by an adoptive mother, said he felt hatred for the natural parents who abandoned him. His mother was a heroin addict and his father was sent to prison, he said.

“I had always told myself that I would be there for my children when the time came,” Washington said. “It’s just so crazy to see myself in almost the same place as my parents.”

Tompkins said Washington’s life has been “very tragic,” but “I can’t go back and rewrite history.”

She imposed the 9 2/3-year sentence and denied Washington’s request to hold his baby.

Tompkins told Washington she hoped “at some point in time, you will be able to earn that hug.”