John Craig

A 19-year-old man who pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree manslaughter in the November 2003 stabbing death of South Hill resident Jose A. Rivas is to be sentenced this afternoon. Brandon Kristopher Edmondson was scheduled for trial this week on a first-degree murder charge when he accepted a plea bargain that cuts his potential sentence in half.

Donta L. Blackmon said it wasn't what it looked like when a 13-year-old girl fell asleep in her sister's Spokane apartment and woke up with her clothes off and Blackmon standing next to her with his pants down. A jury disagreed on Monday. Blackmon, 24, told a Spokane County jury he may have had "sexual contact" with the girl in August 2004, might have inadvertently committed child molestation because he didn't know her age, but he didn't rape her. The girl, who turns 15 later this month, described physical evidence that strongly suggested someone had sex with her.

A Spokane man says he needs to remain in custody because he can't control his desire to molest boys and fears he may kill someone. Court documents show that Richard D. Frye, 47, told corrections officials he feared he might become a killer like John Wayne Gacy, who raped and murdered 33 men and boys in the 1970s and buried 28 of them in the basement of his Chicago home.

The former vice president and manager of the Lilac Lanes/Classic Rock Casino in north Spokane wasn't guilty of theft when he was arrested with poker tournament money in his pockets, in his vehicle and in a crawl space at his home, a jury ruled Thursday. It was the second time a Spokane County Superior Court jury had refused to convict Robert James Ramelow, 51, of first-degree theft or second-degree theft for taking money out of the combination casino, bowling alley and restaurant at 1112 E. Magnesium Road. His first trial, in September, ended in a hung jury.

A Spokane County jury took less than two hours to convict a former Eastern State Hospital nurse of a second-degree rape that was recorded in a wad of gum. Guylin Michael Johnston, 44, was guilty of second-degree rape of a suicidal woman he was assigned to protect, the jury ruled Friday.

A 23-year-old Spokane man was sent to prison for home-invasion robberies the man said he wouldn't have committed if he had known he was about to become a father. Calvin Jay Washington apologized to his victims, but asked Superior Court Judge Linda Tompkins to give him a minimum-standard 71/2-year sentence so he could "be a productive father to my daughter" as soon as possible. He asked Tompkins to at least let him hold the infant for the first time before he goes to prison.

A 22-year-old gunman who shot a man and terrorized a Spokane Valley neighborhood pleaded guilty Thursday in a deal that may send him to prison for 15 years. Spokane resident Brandon M. Osborne pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree assault and one count of second-degree assault in the Nov. 30 crime spree.

A former Eastern State Hospital nurse will try today to resurrect a rape defense that depends on a witness who says the defense is a lie. Jacqueline K. Hughes, a psychiatric security attendant at the state mental hospital in Medical Lake, testified Wednesday that she lied eight months ago when she told jurors she helped a co-worker frame Johnston in the alleged rape of a patient.

Former Eastern State Hospital nurse Guylin Michael Johnston may need a new defense for his second trial for allegedly raping a female patient. He now faces criminal charges for the conspiracy theory he presented to jurors in an earlier trial.

An 18-year-old Spokane gang member who settled his problems with a gun will be a middle-aged man before he gets out of prison. A Spokane County jury acquitted Dustin Allen Davis of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder Monday, but convicted him of the second-degree versions of those crimes.

One of two men who used bicycles to snatch a woman's purse downtown pleaded guilty Friday to reduced charges. Matthew B. Barshaw, 43, pleaded guilty to first-degree theft and third-degree assault, and Superior Court Judge Linda Tompkins sentenced him, as recommended in his plea bargain, to the 58 days in jail he had already served.

A fatal car crash near Deer Park this spring was resolved with a $153 fine against the driver who caused the wreck. Spokane County District Court records show that Robert Henry Kiefer, 72, of Deer Park was cited for failure to keep right in the April 30 accident that killed Spokane Valley resident Sharon Nielsen, 57.

A second Spokane County auto dealership group has been sued for collecting business-and-occupation taxes directly from customers. Attorneys for the plaintiffs say the new lawsuit will apply to many more dealerships around the state.

A Spokane man who hid his 3-year-old daughter in Mexico for three weeks in March was convicted Thursday of kidnapping the girl to hurt her mother. A Superior Court jury deliberated more than 12 hours over three days to convict 32-year-old Shawn C. Rainey of first-degree kidnapping and telephone harassment. The jury acquitted him of a stalking charge.

Superior Court Judge Tari Eitzen "reluctantly" granted Chattaroy child-rapist John Lawrence Fitch an opportunity Wednesday to substitute sex-offender treatment for prison time. "In my belief, you are an opportunistic predator," Eitzen told Fitch, but she bowed to the unanimous recommendation of prosecution and defense attorneys, a state corrections officer and a psychologist.

A 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder in the death of a 17-year-old Shadle Park High School student during a botched drug robbery. James N. Beasley made his plea in Spokane County Juvenile Court as part of a plea bargain in the June 5 shooting death of Matthew Migaki.

One of two men who beat a homeless man to death with a 7-foot, 10-pound pipe in 2001 got his 30-year prison sentence reduced to 13 1/3 years Tuesday because of a Washington Supreme Court ruling. Superior Court Judge Kathleen O'Connor gave Jonathan E. Michel an above-standard sentence when a jury convicted him of second-degree murder 4 1/2 years ago in the death of George "Rick" Rice, whose skull was crushed while he slept downtown, near the corner of Third Avenue and Monroe Street.

Spokane's Appleway auto dealerships have improperly tacked their business-and-occupation taxes onto customers' bills, the state Court of Appeals in Spokane ruled Thursday. The appellate court upheld Spokane County Superior Court Judge Kathleen O'Connor's order last October that Appleway must stop adding its B&O taxes to its advertised and negotiated prices.

Looking for an unpaid challenge? The Spokane County court administrator's office may have a job for you. No, it's not jury duty.

A jury took less than three hours Wednesday to convict Erik R. Dickson of severely beating, tormenting and robbing a traveling real estate developer in downtown Spokane's upscale Hotel Lusso. Jurors convicted Dickson, 27, as charged with first-degree robbery, first-degree kidnapping, second-degree theft and second-degree assault.

A Spokane man was sent to prison Friday for 3 1/2 years for shattering his wife's face while complaining that she was making him late for a domestic violence counseling session. David Elliath Sukin's sentence was the maximum that Superior Court Judge Greg Sypolt could impose and the least that Deputy Prosecutor Debra Hayes considered appropriate.

A Spokane Valley man with a penchant for resisting arrest and the ability to withstand pepper spray, baton blows and Taser shocks succumbed to a jury Friday for the second time in two weeks. A Superior Court jury convicted John Phillip Jones of second-degree assault and third-degree assault against two sheriff's deputies while awaiting trial in another case in which he assaulted deputies.

A Boise real estate developer said he was so sure he was going to die in Room 301 of Spokane's Hotel Lusso last October that he prayed the man who beat and tortured him had a knife sharp enough to kill him quickly. John W. Sieckert, 50, teared up as he told a Spokane County jury about that moment, at the hands of a man he said identified himself as Kevin and later as "the angel of death."