In brief: Boy expelled after gun found; 13 other students suspended

A Garry Middle School student was expelled and arrested Thursday after bringing a 9mm gun to school in anticipation of a fight off campus later in the day.

Thirteen other students were suspended because they knew about the gun and didn’t tell an adult, said Terren Roloff, Spokane Public Schools spokeswoman.

Rumors at the northeast Spokane school Thursday prompted an assistant principal to retrieve the boy’s backpack. The gun was found inside.

The boy told school officials the gun was for “his protection.”

The gun was not loaded, but there were two bullets in the backpack, Roloff said. There was no magazine, which apparently meant the bullets would have to be loaded individually.

The boy was taken to the Spokane County Juvenile Detention Center on a charge of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm – a felony, Roloff said. The boy told authorities the gun belonged to his father.

December 2007 was the last time a student in the district was found to have brought a gun to school, officials said.

Jody Lawrence-Turner

Planned Parenthood reaches deal with state, will pay $345,000

Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest will pay the state $345,000 after settling a 2009 audit that found the clinic used incorrect codes and provided insufficient documentation for some claims billed to Medicaid.

The original audit finding estimated the Spokane family-planning organization improperly billed Medicaid more than $629,000 for 333 patient procedures from March 2004 through February 2007.

During that time, the clinic collected about $7.6 million from Medicaid.

Planned Parenthood appealed and a compromise was reached with the state “without any admission of incorrect billing, documentation of payment,” according to the Department of Social and Health Services.

Kevin Graman

Reinstatement of death penalty sought in 1999 Idaho killings

The Idaho attorney general’s office is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the death penalty to stand against double killer Dale Shackelford.

A jury in 2001 convicted Shackelford of killing his ex-wife Donna Fontaine and her boyfriend, Fred Palahniuk, near Kendrick, Idaho, in 1999. The jury also convicted Shackelford of first-degree arson, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit arson and preparing false evidence.

Second District Judge John R. Stegner in 2001 sentenced Shackelford to death for both murders.

But the Idaho Supreme Court vacated the death sentence because the jury was not instructed on the multiple murder aggravating factor.

However, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that Stegner’s sentence was a “harmless” error because the jury did conclude that Shackelford committed two murders at the same time and thus already found the aggravating factor to be present.

Thomas Clouse