In brief: Woman, 31, killed in crash on interstate

A Western Washington woman died after a one-car rollover crash on Interstate 90 near Ritzville on Thursday.

Marisa M. Morgan, 31, died at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center after being airlifted from the crash about six miles west of Ritzville.

Morgan, of Lake Forest Park, north of Seattle, was westbound in a 2000 Subaru Legacy when the vehicle left the roadway and rolled into the median, ejecting her, according to the Washington State Patrol.

The crash occurred about 8:10 a.m.

Meghann M. Cuniff

Superior Court judge will retire in October

Superior Court Judge Rebecca M. Baker, who presides over cases from Stevens, Ferry and Pend Oreille counties, plans to retire from the bench as of Oct. 15.

Baker won a contested election in 1996 and has run unopposed three times since then, according to a Superior Court news release.

Baker served from 1983 to 1986 as a Ferry County District Court judge in a legal career that began in 1976.

Baker, 62, cited family concerns as the primary reason for her decision. She also wrote in her letter to Gov. Chris Gregoire – who will select her replacement – about increasing workloads as budgets shrink for court operations.

Baker said she will reactivate her state bar license and serve as a mediator, and spend time with her husband.

Tom Clouse

Prosecutors elevate charges in stabbing

A suspect in a stabbing that left a man with a cut on his throat from ear to ear has been charged with attempted first-degree murder.

Izaac Jermel Innes, 30, who was recently released from prison, is accused of stabbing a man outside a party in the 12700 block of East 31st Avenue last weekend.

Innes posted $50,000 bond after his arrest for first-degree assault but was rearrested on a probation violation and the attempted murder charge. He appeared in Superior Court on Thursday.

Innes has been on probation since January. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2003, but his current public defender, Kari Reardon, said in court Thursday that he was simply waiting outside the scene of the murder for two friends to buy marijuana.

“I frankly don’t know why he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder,” Reardon said. “He certainly wasn’t alleged to be involved in any sort of violence.”

Meghann M. Cuniff