Jailers find marijuana in convicted killer’s cell

Convicted killer Brandon Mellon faces a drug possession charge after Spokane County jail officers found marijuana in his cell last week.

Mellon, 26, was charged with first-degree murder in January 2014 after shooting 48-year-old Arnold Lomasson in the head while Lomasson was playing video games. He had been smoking methamphetamine before the shooting and behaving erratically, witnesses told police.

He pleaded guilty Oct. 21 to a reduced charge of manslaughter in the shooting and will be sentenced Dec. 3.

According to court documents, jail officers found a rubber glove with marijuana inside one of the fingers in Mellon’s cell last Friday. Mellon was housed by himself, court documents say.

A Spokane County Sheriff’s deputy responded to the jail to interview Mellon. Mellon told the deputy he was already facing 22 years in prison and a drug arrest “meant nothing to him,” court documents say. He said the marijuana was his and for personal use only.

Mellon appeared in court on the new charge Monday afternoon.