Woman found not guilty in killing linked to poster

The sound of the not guilty verdict for first-degree murder hung on the air as Kathryn B. Kelly burst into tears and put both hands over her wide smile.

“Thank you so much,” she whispered to the jury as Superior Court Judge Kathleen O’Connor read Kelly’s acquittal Thursday.

The Spokane Valley woman turned to her family and mouthed, “I want to go home.”

Kelly, 31, was exonerated on the charges that it was she who instigated the brutal slaying last year of 45-year-old Robert “Bud” Johnson, whose body was pulled March 18, 2006, from the Spokane River at Boulder Beach. She has been incarcerated for the last 14 months.

“I’m just glad it’s over,” Kelly said leaving the courtroom. “Praise be to God.”

Testifying against Kelly during the trial was her cousin, Robert A. Entel, 19. He has agreed to plead guilty for his testimony against Kelly and 18-year-old Donald Smiley-Lyle, who is scheduled for trial on July 9. In exchange, Entel will avoid a sentence of life without the possibility of parole and instead serve 25 years in prison.

Kelly claimed she did not ask Entel and Smylie-Lyle to kill Johnson, who she suspected had stolen a Beatles poster he had previously given her as a gift.

Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Steve Garvin was visibly upset and declined to comment following the verdict.

But in his closing arguments Wednesday, he reminded the jury about the testimony of the witnesses, who said Kelly wanted Johnson dead. She provided the key, told them where to park, the quietest way to enter and where Johnson’s room was located, Garvin said.

“There is no motive for the killing of Bud Johnson if you take her out of the picture,” Garvin said. “If you take her out of the picture there is no key.”

Defense attorney Richard Sanger left without commenting as well. But on Wednesday, he countered Garvin by saying the only hard evidence presented by the state pointed to the guilt of Entel and Smylie-Lyle as the killers.

“The issue, of course, is whether Ms. Kelly had anything to do with it. Words, ladies and gentlemen, are nothing but words,” Sanger said. “I don’t think in over 34 years in criminal defense have I seen where the state based its case on a sorrier, bizarre cast of characters than the witnesses in this case.”

The case started in early 2006.

Kelly was homeless and broke before Johnson allowed her to move in with him for several weeks in his apartment at 1723 W. Maxwell Ave. They had a brief relationship and Johnson gave Kelly the Beatles poster as a Valentine’s Day gift, according to court testimony.

Within weeks of the gift, Johnson wanted the poster back to sell on eBay but Kelly refused, according to court records.

Kelly then moved in with Entel at 14008 E. Springfield in Spokane Valley. Around March 5, that home was burglarized, and the only item stolen was the Beatles poster, Kelly reported to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

She told a deputy that she believed Johnson stole the poster. And Johnson’s friend, Roy “Butch” Glidewell, later admitted to Kelly that he helped Johnson steal the poster, according to court records.

Within days, Johnson was reported missing and detectives began to search for Entel and Smylie-Lyle based largely on information provided to them by Kelly.

The Oregon State Police located Entel and Smylie-Lyle outside of Salem on March 18 and interrogated them about Johnson. At that time, Entel confessed, saying he and Smylie-Lyle killed Johnson, according to court records.

Entel then described how he and Smylie-Lyle dressed in black, military-type clothing, including berets, and went to Johnson’s apartment sometime around March 12, the report says. They used the key from Kelly to go in the front door and heard Johnson playing video games. They acted like police officers and blinded Johnson with a flashlight, according to court records.

“Entel placed Johnson in a choke hold and told Johnson, ‘This is for Kelly,’ ” Spokane police Detective Kip Hollenbeck wrote in his report.

They gagged Johnson with a red bandanna and bound his hands with a white zip tie, then cut a cord off Johnson’s computer and strangled him with it, Hollenbeck wrote. Smylie-Lyle then started banging Johnson’s head on the floor, Hollenbeck wrote.

The two men then loaded Johnson into their car and drove him to Boulder Beach, where they rolled him off a cliff into the water, the report says.

The same day Entel confessed to Oregon authorities, dive team members acted on a tip and found Johnson’s body in about 20 feet of water. He had a red bandanna tied loosely around his neck and his hands were bound by a white zip tie.

Spokane County Medical Examiner Dr. Sally Aiken determined Johnson’s cause of death was asphyxia, but she could not tell whether he was strangled or drowned.

After the acquittal Thursday, Kelly hugged Sanger and told him she wanted to see the sky again and green grass.

“I’m never going to need another attorney,” she said.