John Craig

Bryan M. "Squirrel" James got a maximum-standard 64 1/4 years in prison Monday for attempting to murder two strangers last summer while they walked along a north Spokane street. A jury convicted James, 25, in May of two counts of attempted first-degree murder for shooting Richard Payne and Nicholas Schelin as they walked in the 2600 block of North Crestline early June 27, 2004. The jury also convicted James of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

A 20-year-old Spokane woman faces up to 2 1/2 years in prison for conspiring to rob an alleged drug dealer who was shot in the abdomen at point-blank range with a 20-gauge shotgun. Amber J. Bridge had been charged with attempted first-degree murder, drive-by shooting, conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery and attempted first-degree robbery in the near-fatal shooting of William Weller Bedford. She pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery.

A former Bellingham high school teacher and girls varsity basketball coach pleaded guilty Friday to fourth-degree assault for tackling and groping a member of his team in a Spokane motel. Robert T. MacIntosh, 39, admitted the crime in a plea bargain he hopes will restore his teaching career in three years. The deal, approved by Superior Court Judge Linda Tompkins, will allow the conviction to be expunged from MacIntosh's record if he successfully completes a three-year probation.

A second man has pleaded guilty in connection with the Feb. 20 shooting of a Spokane crack cocaine dealer. Samson Ogbit "Spook" Tesfamariam, 29, pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree burglary, second-degree assault with a firearm, attempted first-degree robbery and drive-by shooting.

A man who murdered a Spokane County Jail cellmate last October after stabbing and raping a former girlfriend has been sentenced to nearly 46 years in prison for both crimes. Superior Court Judge Greg Sypolt gave Michael Lee West Jr., 29, the maximum standard sentence for his guilty plea in June to first-degree murder and second-degree rape.

Brian William Frawley cleared the deck Monday for four pending trials on three alleged sexual assaults and the alleged first-degree murder of another woman authorities say he also raped. Frawley pleaded guilty Monday to seven lesser crimes, most of which victimized a former girlfriend who is expected to testify against him in the rape and murder cases. One of the crimes he admitted was failure to register as a sex offender.

U.S. Attorney James McDevitt has asked the Secret Service and the FBI to pursue charges against a federal felon who is suspected of running a get-rich-quick scam that duped a Republic, Wash., businesswoman into stealing more than $670,000. The suspect, identified in court documents obtained by The Spokesman-Review, is Nigerian citizen Terry O. Ayeni, who is to be deported when he completes a four-year prison term.

Robert L. Doney Jr. will get another chance to avoid above-standard punishment for spitefully killing his girlfriend's baby, but he can't withdraw his guilty plea, a judge ruled Wednesday. Doney, 29, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in March, before a Spokane County Superior Court could begin deliberating his fate. Then, last month, Doney's court-appointed attorney, Tim Trageser, moved to withdraw the plea on grounds that a state Supreme Court ruling in April undercut his strategy.

A faulty videotape of his confession to killing a traveling salvage crew foreman last October wasn't enough to keep a 28-year-old Spokane man from being sent to prison Wednesday for the rest of his life. Shooting Waterloo, Iowa, resident Martin H. Doerring, 43, was the third and final "strike" for 28-year-old Devenniyon Marquise Courtney, Spokane County Superior Court Judge Jerome Leveque ruled. Under Washington's three-strikes law, Leveque had no choice but to send Courtney to prison, without the possibility of parole.

A man who raped two girls almost five years ago when he lived in Spokane was sent to prison Wednesday for 10 years because he failed to stay away from children without an approved chaperone. Anthony J. Boteilho, 35, is "manipulative" and constitutes a "significant risk" to the public, Spokane County Superior Court Judge Neal Rielly said.

Former Spokane County Chief Executive Officer Francine Boxer-Purtill, scheduled for trial today on her second drunken-driving charge in three years, has pleaded guilty to reduced charges. Boxer-Purtill, 54, pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless endangerment in the second offense and was convicted of drunken-driving in the first. Previously, she had been granted a deferred prosecution on her first offense, which would have resulted in dismissal of the charge if she had kept out of trouble.

A recent state Court of Appeals ruling could reduce supervision of certain drug-addicted felons once they have been released from jail. And failure to provide supervised drug and alcohol treatment virtually guarantees those felons will commit more crimes, according to Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor David Stevens.

Cheng "Peter" Hsu says he was a Peeping Tom in training when he pointed a video camera at a woman using a restroom at Washington State University. Two courts say he was just inept. Hsu, 33, claimed he deliberately left the lens cap on the camera when he stuck it under a stall divider in a women's restroom at Cleveland Hall in June 2003 and recorded eight minutes of blackness. He said he was just practicing.

Nonviolent criminals who are sentenced to less than a year in jail can't be forced to receive drug or alcohol treatment after their release, a new court ruling says. Judges can't order state probation officers to make sure burglars and other petty criminals follow through on drug-treatment programs or other release conditions, according to the Eastern Washington division of the state Court of Appeals.

A young woman who lost three fingertips during a Jenkins High School fund-raising project is entitled to sue the Chewelah School District, according to the Spokane division of the state Court of Appeals. The court reversed Stevens County Superior Court Judge Rebecca Baker's decision to dismiss the school district from the lawsuit Mayanna Travis filed in 2001 against the district and others involved in the accident that severed three fingers of her left hand.

Ironmen getting ready for today's big race in Coeur d'Alene could find everything they needed Saturday at the athlete village in City Park – including support. Members of Casey Selfridge's 12-member cheering squad – who came from as far as Florida and Japan – were busy making signs to encourage the 28-year-old Seattle resident in his first attempt at winning an Ironman triathlon.

Even with help from a lawyer, Bryan M. "Squirrel" James had no better luck Friday than he did in his attempted-murder trial last month. James is still guilty, Spokane County Superior Court Judge Robert Austin ruled after hearing why Assistant Public Defender Stephen Heintz thought the conviction should be overturned.

A Spokane man who had just gotten out of jail on a second-degree assault conviction when he attacked a convenience store clerk with a hammer tried unsuccessfully Thursday to convince a jury to give him a new second-degree assault conviction. But the jury agreed with Deputy Prosecutor Eugene Cruz that striking Qwik Stop clerk Wayne E. Howry in the back of the head with an oversized ball-peen hammer was first-degree assault. A security video allowed jurors to view the Feb. 10 attack.

A 15-year-old Spokane Valley boy has been charged with setting the May 29 fire that gutted the historic Clayton Grange hall. Daniel A. Sweetland, 7919 E. Heroy, is to make an initial appearance Monday in Stevens County Juvenile Court in Colville. He was charged Thursday with first-degree malicious mischief, a Class B felony.

A Spokane Valley sex offender with a long criminal history pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of attempted voyeurism at a Spokane Valley restaurant after a jury quickly convicted him of voyeurism at Cyrus O'Leary's downtown. In both cases, 48-year-old Michael Burke Fleming peered at women over the tops of restroom stall dividers. The April 5 incident at the Cyrus O'Leary's restaurant occurred while Fleming was awaiting trial for doing the same thing last November at the Denny's restaurant at Sprague and Pines.

Mi-cheal Jefferson was sent to prison Tuesday for at least 20 years for breaking into the apartment of a 68-year-old woman he didn't know and raping her in July 2003. Jefferson, 43, could be kept in prison for the rest of his life if Washington's Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board determines he is still dangerous after he serves his minimum sentence.