Transient sentenced for holding couple at knifepoint

A transient who terrorized a married couple at knifepoint in their South Hill apartment bedroom three years ago has been sent to prison for 19 1/2 years.

Cody McDaniel, 38, pleaded guilty to burglary and kidnapping charges in August and was sentenced Friday.

He slipped into the apartment at 2015 W. 10th Ave. just before midnight on July 28, 2010, using a card to ease open the lock. McDaniel then entered a bedroom and led the wife away, threatening to stab her husband, who was lying next to her in bed, according to investigators. The woman escaped while McDaniel was distracted, and her husband yanked medical tubing from his body to get out of bed and assist his brother in fighting off McDaniel.

By the time police arrived at the scene, McDaniel had fled, though he left behind a Coke can with his fingerprints on it.

Spokane Superior Court Judge Ellen Kalama Clark considered McDaniel’s criminal record during his sentencing. McDaniel has two convictions, including a robbery in 2005 and a burglary in 2006. According to an earlier Spokesman-Review report, McDaniel told sheriff’s deputies he burglarized a home near Pine River Park, stealing a 1991 Volkswagen Cabriolet convertible and firearms because he had recently been released from jail and “really needed the money.” McDaniel also said he made his living as a thief and told investigators the vocation was more difficult than they imagined.

At the time of his arrest he was in community custody, and public defenders asked Clark to consider leniency because McDaniel had ceased taking drugs and made progress in his rehabilitation programs.

“This is a man who has truly changed his life around,” his defense team told the judge.

McDaniel had been facing a maximum of lifetime imprisonment due to his record.