Man sentenced for role in slaying

An accomplice to the murder of a state witness in 2008 was sentenced this week to just over two years in prison. Carl A. Hoskins, 58, will receive credit for time served in the Spokane County Jail, where he was incarcerated from May 2008 until August 2009, when prosecutors allowed him to leave jail after agreeing to a tentative plea bargain. Hoskins agreed to testify against Christopher Devlin but never was called to the stand during the trial last summer. Devlin was facing trial for allegedly assaulting Daniel D. Heily, 52, of Chattaroy, when Heily was found shot to death in the cab of his pickup truck in May 2008. A jury convicted Devlin of aggravated first-degree murder. Devlin died at the Spokane County Jail in September in an apparent suicide a few days after being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Hoskins pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, intimidating a witness and first-degree rendering criminal assistance. Superior Court Judge Jerome Leveque sentenced him Monday to 27 months in prison and ordered him to pay $1,434 in restitution.