Attorney says driver should face lesser charge

The attorney for a young man involved in a fatal crash on a Coeur d’Alene street says his client should not be charged with vehicular manslaughter because his car wasn’t the one that plowed into the victim’s car.

“I think at best the state has a case of excessive speed,” said Michael Verbillis, who is representing Daniel W. Cutting. Cutting, 18, and Dominick Salois, 19, were arrested on vehicular manslaughter charges Wednesday in connection with the Oct. 13 crash that killed a 14-year-old Hayden boy. The two men reportedly were racing down Kathleen Avenue at 80 mph when Salois crashed into a Chevy Caprice driven by the victim’s mother.

Salois’ 2006 Ford Mustang hit 52-year-old Glenda Norris’ car as she turned onto Kathleen Avenue. Her son, Isaac, was killed and she suffered critical injuries. Cutting swerved to avoid the crash and rolled his Subaru Impreza, according to state police reports.

Salois posted bond and was released shortly after his arrest. Cutting spent the night at Kootenai County Jail. At a hearing Thursday, Verbillis asked Magistrate Barry Watson to lower Cutting’s bail, set at $50,000. He said his client has lived in the community all his life, works full-time and isn’t a flight risk. Watson declined to lower the bail amount. Afterward, Cutting posted bond and was released.

Preliminary hearings for both defendants will be scheduled within the next two weeks.

– Taryn Brodwater

School board backs Prop. 1

The Coeur d’Alene School Board of Trustees unanimously supports Proposition 1, trustees decided during a special meeting Thursday.

The controversial voter initiative asks the state to dedicate more than $200 million to public schools for schools to use in nine areas, including textbooks and supplies, classroom aides and replacing out-of-date or broken technology.

The initiative originally called for the sales tax to increase from 5 percent to 6 percent and the extra money – estimated at $219 million – to go to schools. But the Legislature made that increase in August, and the measure contains a clause that directs lawmakers to come up with another form of funding if the sales tax is already at 6 percent. Where that money comes from has not been decided. The Legislature will decide should the initiative pass Nov. 7. “I think the money’s there, or can be there,” Trustee Sid Fredrickson said. “The Legislature has more than one way to skin this cat.”

– Meghann M. Cuniff

Gas investigation unlikely

Washington’s attorney general told Spokane Mayor Dennis Hession this week there appears to be little his office can do to remedy higher gasoline prices in Eastern Washington.

Attorney General Rob McKenna said his office would investigate the oil and gasoline industry if there was evidence of illegal collusion to maintain artificially high prices. In the absence of such evidence, the explanation for higher gasoline prices in Eastern Washington may be an economic one, McKenna said in a letter to the mayor this week. The state is limited in its ability to regulate prices, he said.

Hession earlier this month sent a letter to McKenna asking him to look into the matter.

– Mike Prager