In brief: Appeal refused on red-light cameras

Appellate judges have refused to hear an appeal by the city of Spokane after a Superior Court judge ruled that the way it had been printing tickets from red-light cameras violated state law.

At issue was the way the city had a police officer in Spokane review a photo of a car either running a red light or not coming to a complete stop and determining whether an infraction occurred. The officer then punched an “accept” button, sending an electronic signal to Arizona-based American Traffic Solutions to affix the officer’s electronic signature on the $124 ticket it sent to the driver.

The late John Clark, and later Dean Chuang, represented three clients who argued that state law requires those signatures to be written in Washington. After one judge ruled for the city, Superior Court Judge Jerome Leveque reversed that decision, which the city appealed to the Division III Court of Appeals. On Thursday, that court declined to hear the case.

City spokeswoman Marlene Feist said that after Leveque’s ruling, the city now has officers print out their signatures at the Public Safety Building, thus complying with state law.

The city now operates 15 cameras that officials estimate will generate about $750,000 next year.

Thomas Clouse

Beating death suspect gives up

A man sought on a nationwide warrant in a June beating death of a Spokane man in Missoula has turned himself in.

David Sekou Hylton, 39, of Tacoma, surrendered to police there Tuesday night, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.

Hylton had been sought on a charge of deliberate homicide in the death of Angelo Lorenzo Fuentes, 41.

A coroner’s report said Fuentes died of blunt force trauma to the head. He was found outside the Elks Lodge in Missoula during a hip-hop show there.

Coincidentally, the hip-hop concert tour featured rapper John “Lil Danger” Castro, who was arrested for second-degree murder for allegedly shooting another rapper to death at a Spokane hotel Nov. 27. Fuentes’ nephew, Stafone Fuentes, was at the hotel and involved in the fight that led to the shooting, Spokane police allege. He is wanted on a first-degree assault charge.

Meghann M. Cuniff