Pedestrians struck crossing Division
Two people who ran across Division Street were hit by a truck Thursday night, knocking them under the city bus they were trying to catch.
The man and woman, whose names were not available, were taken to Sacred Heart Medical Center with minor injuries, said Spokane police Officer Michael McNab.
The two will be ticketed for jaywalking, he said.
The driver of the truck, who declined to give his name, said he was going about 35 mph when the two ran out in front of him about 8:50 p.m. “I’m surprised it didn’t kill them,” he said.
About five people were on the bus when the incident occurred at Division and Lyons and were moved to another bus.
Man sentenced for child porn
A sentence of 84 months in prison was ordered this week in U.S. District Court for William Clinton Palmer III, of East Wenatchee, Wash., who pleaded guilty earlier this year to receipt of child pornography.
Following a tip developed in Florida, investigators found more than 10,000 images and movies in Palmer’s possession when they served a search warrant on his East Wenatchee home in February 2007.
After he is released from prison, Palmer will have to register as a sex offender. He’ll be under court supervision for the rest of his life.
Family in need doing better
Members of the Thatcher family, who found temporary shelter as the result of a Spokane woman’s kindness, have seen their situation improve since a story about the six indigent Californians appeared in The Spokesman-Review a week ago.
Chrystie Thatcher said her family is still living in an Airway Heights motel thanks to local benefactors who read about the family’s struggles.
Thatcher said she, her two daughters and two granddaughters left Yuba City, Calif., a month ago when the killer of another of her daughters was released from prison and back into the community. Thatcher’s husband, Tom Zinn, joined the family in Spokane more recently.
In the past week, a Spokane woman has offered to rent the family a home without deposit, Zinn has found part-time work, and people have donated food, clothes and about $500 in cash.
Thatcher said she has a job interview and is talking to the Interfaith Hospitality Network about temporary shelter until the rental home becomes available. “It really shocked me,” Thatcher said of the outpouring of generosity. “There’s nothing like that where I come from, and I’m really grateful.”
Mehring jury still deliberating
A Spokane County Superior Court jury deliberated 6 1/2 hours Thursday without reaching a verdict in the felony harassment trial of suspended Spokane police Detective Jay Mehring.
The 12-member jury got the case Thursday after testimony concluded and closing arguments were made Wednesday in the court of Judge Michael Price. The trial began Oct. 3.
Mehring was arrested and put on suspended status March 30, 2007, when he was arrested on a charge alleging he threatened to “burn down” his estranged wife’s home.
Coeur d’alene
Teen with guns given probation
A Coeur d’Alene teenager who drove onto a high school campus with stolen rifles will serve three years probation.
Brian E. Gilmore, 18, had been incarcerated since his arrest in the Lake City High School parking lot Jan. 22.
Under the terms of a plea deal, Gilmore was convicted in May of felony burglary, grand theft, and a misdemeanor count of carrying weapons onto school grounds. He spent six months at Cottonwood Correctional Facility and was freed this week after Kootenai County First District Judge Fred Gibler imposed probation Wednesday instead of additional prison time, said Clark Peterson, Gilmore’s lawyer.
Gilmore – who has said he planned to commit suicide, not shoot classmates, is doing well – Peterson said. “He’s got a great support system,” he said.
Carnation, wash.
Murder suspect recants death wish
Michele Anderson has said she hopes to be executed for the slaughter of six of her family members, including two young children, on Christmas Eve last year.
Now that she might get that chance, her lawyer says she no longer wants it.
King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg announced Thursday he will seek the death penalty against Anderson, 30, and her boyfriend, Joseph McEnroe, 29, in the shootings of Anderson’s parents, her brother and his wife, and their two young children at the parents’ home in Carnation last Dec. 24.
“Given the magnitude of these alleged crimes, the slaying of three generations of a family, and particularly the slaying of two young children, I find that there are not sufficient reasons to keep the death penalty from being considered by the juries that will ultimately hear these matters,” Satterberg said in a written statement.