A Spokane stockbroker admits to drinking alcohol the day his Mercedes crashed into a motorcycle, paralyzing the driver and killing the passenger, but he told jurors he wasn’t drunk.

He’d told the doctor who examined him after the June 2, 2009, crash that he hadn’t had anything to drink because a police officer was in the room, listening.

“I was afraid,” said Jon A. Strine, who is charged with vehicular homicide and vehicular assault for the crash. “I knew (Spokane police Officer Paul) Watson was going to try to pin this on me.” 

Read the rest of my story here.

Closing arguments are scheduled Tuesday afternoon because Strine's lawyer, Carl Oreskovich, will be in Seattle on Monday for a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals hearing regarding the Karl Thompson-Otto Zehm case.

Oreskovich, who is representing Thompson, will be arguing against federal prosecutors' request that jurors be informed of the fact that Zehm did not commit a crime prior to the fatal confrontation.

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