Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Killer executed by one-drug cocktail

From Staff Reports

Convicted killer Cal Coburn Brown was executed early Friday by lethal injection for the rape, torture and murder of a Seattle-area woman, after delivering a statement forgiving the victim’s family for hating him but complaining he was treated unfairly by the legal system.

Brown, 52, died at 12:56 a.m. in Walla Walla after a four-member team injected a lethal one-drug cocktail in the execution chamber of the Washington State Penitentiary.

The execution occurred during The Spokesman-Review’s press run, and only a portion of subscribers received the story in the morning edition.

The full story is available at spokesman.com/tags/ cal-coburn-brown.

Teen with killing role gets prison for spree

A short drug and stolen- property crime spree by a Spokane teenager earned him 22 months in prison Friday as the family of a man he helped to kill looked on.

Judge Richard B. White, who sentenced Christopher E. Hooper, 19, to the maximum term recommended by prosecutors, told him to work hard and be careful in prison.

“I don’t think anyone’s really surprised by the family background that you have that you’re going to be in prison, too,” White said.

Hooper told White that his mother is in prison for assault and he doesn’t often see his father.

Hooper has a second-degree assault conviction for the January 2009 death of Shannon A. Cochran. Hooper handed the knife to Cochran’s killer, Michael L. Summa. Summa is serving eight years for manslaughter.

Cochran’s family, including his mother, Tracey, attended Hooper’s sentencing.

“At least he’s back in jail,” she said after the hearing.

A Spokane Valley man was booked into jail Friday after leading a Spokane Valley police officer on a chase that ended in a crash that caused significant damage to a Numerica Credit Union sign at Broadway Avenue and Sullivan Road.

Officer Justin Elliott spotted a Ford Taurus driving erratically near Sprague and Bowdish about 11:20 p.m. Thursday, said Spokane Valley police Cpl. Dave Thornburg in a news release.

The car did not pull over when Elliott turned on his lights and siren and led Elliott on a chase that ended when the Taurus, eastbound on Broadway, drove through a red light at Sullivan and was hit by a Buick Regal.

Bradley J. Bowerman, 45, was driving the Taurus and was apprehended at the scene, Thornburg said. Bowerman was taken to a local hospital for treatment of “large cuts to his head,” Thornburg said. He was in Spokane County Jail on Friday night on a charge of eluding police, according to the jail’s roster. His bond was set at $25,000.

The driver of the Buick, Veradale resident Richard Duval, 53, suffered minor injuries, Thornburg said.