Thomas Clouse

Officer's lawyer asks for Zehm trial delay

Gonzaga hires new law school dean

A crime suspect’s angry courthouse outburst after a series of prosecution mixups involving the case against him has led to an unusual new charge and prompted authorities to bring in an outside judge to preside over it. Roland W. Finney, who will turn 36 Friday, faces a single charge of intimidating a public servant in connection with a verbal altercation with Deputy Prosecutor Mark Cipolla last year.

Trial begins in gold coin collection caper

Another Spokane case where prosecutors used their discretion to charge a misdemeanor theft as a more serious felony robbery ended in tragedy in 2004. That year, Spokane County prosecutors charged 21-year-old Christopher Rentz with second-degree robbery after they claimed he assaulted a gas station clerk during the theft of $23 worth of gas. Because he was charged with a felony, he was placed in jail with a cellmate who had a violent past – and who strangled Rentz.

Appellate judges on Thursday upheld a $2,000 sanction levied against the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office for how it handled the trial of three men convicted of robbery and drive-by shooting – a case that a main witness later claimed was a set-up. Superior Court Judge Tari Eitzen earlier said that the $8,000 she levied against the prosecutor’s office was the first major sanction she imposed in her career. Eitzen fined Deputy Prosecutor Eugene Cruz after he waited until the day the trial was set to begin to change the date of the alleged offense from April 15 to April 17, 2008.

A Spokane County sheriff’s detective who has been the subject of a number of use-of-force complaints appeared in court Tuesday, the first day in a civil trial brought by a man who claimed that he was unnecessarily shocked by a Taser during a traffic stop. Daniel B. Strange, 41, filed a $1.5 million excessive force lawsuit against Spokane County in 2006 after a traffic stop on Jan. 22 of that year in which Deputy Jeff Welton shot Strange with a Taser during a traffic stop in Spokane Valley.

A Spokane County Sheriff’s detective who has been the subject of a number of use-of-force complaints appeared in court Tuesday as a civil trial began by a man who claimed that he was unnecessarily shocked by a Taser during a traffic stop.

A Spokane Valley businessman pleaded guilty Wednesday to several counts of hiding financial transactions concerning the sale of stolen metals and agreed to forfeit about $1.4 million in cash, property and vehicles purchased with proceeds of the illegal transactions. Craig A. Dickson entered a plea agreement before U.S. District Court Judge Edward Shea at a hearing in Richland. Dickson, owner of Dickson Iron and Metal, 907 N. Dyer Road, pleaded guilty to seven counts of structuring financial transactions to avoid reporting requirements and one count of conspiracy to commit the same offense.

In the case of one Spokane man, the bear parts do not make up the sum of a felony. Appellate judges on Tuesday overturned the felony wildlife trafficking conviction of 52-year-old Jason M. Yon, after he paid $800 for four bear gallbladders in 2008 to undercover Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officers.

A Spokane grandmother appeared in Spokane County Superior Court Thursday after she was arrested earlier this week for driving a 14-year-old boy around town so he could sell crack cocaine. Tyna A. Hilliard, 53, appeared in court Thursday on the felony charge of delivery of a controlled substance. Arraignment was set for Jan. 3, and Superior Court Judge Tari Eitzen released Hilliard on her own recognizance.

After snowing late Wednesday afternoon, the weather pattern should stabilize enough for free sailing for both holiday travelers and a certain portly elf who reportedly drives a flying sleigh.

A judge on Wednesday decided that the way Spokane city officials enforce the hauling of construction waste is, quite frankly, garbage. Superior Court Judge Annette Plese sided with a local demolition business in a 10-year battle with the city over the company’s use of roll-off containers. Those are large steel containers that can be offloaded from a specialized truck and then reloaded with additional debris.

Jeffrey N. Canino worked nearly a quarter century at the same job. His marriage appeared to be sound. Still, he worried he would lose them both. It’s not known if these are the issues that sparked a confrontation in which Canino stabbed his wife to death. He claims to have no memory of the incident.

Nearly four months after their father was shot to death by a deputy sheriff in Spokane Valley, sons of Wayne Scott Creach are still looking for answers. Police detectives investigating the case told them in September to stop calling. They haven’t heard from prosecutors reviewing the circumstances surrounding the fatal Aug. 25 shooting. The deputy involved, Brian Hirzel, remains on desk duty until a decision is made about whether the shooting was justified.

The criminal case against Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. now has a slim chance of proceeding in March after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday agreed to speed up its review of the appeal that stopped the case cold in June. The federal appeals court will hear the case in February after prosecutors appealed U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle’s ruling that they could not present evidence that mentally ill janitor Otto Zehm had not committed a crime on March 18, 2006, when he was confronted by Thompson. Zehm died two days later.

The deputy who shot a Spokane Valley pastor will not face discipline for failing to disclose his co-ownership of a business that sold sex toys online. Spokane County Deputy Brian Hirzel remains under investigation for the Aug. 25 shooting that killed Pastor Wayne Scott Creach near his home and greenhouse business in Spokane Valley.

The deputy who shot a Spokane Valley pastor will not face discipline for failing to disclose his co-ownership of a business that sold sex toys online.

Gold coins stolen in August recovered

Spokane Valley police were searching Wednesday for at least three intruders who ransacked the home of Ernie Creach, son of slain Spokane Valley pastor Wayne Scott Creach. Ernie Creach said his wife, Laura, arrived at their home Wednesday with their two young children and saw people inside the house near Eighth Avenue and Best Street.

Spokane Valley police were searching Wednesday for at least three intruders who ransacked the home of Ernie Creach, son of slain Spokane Valley pastor Wayne Scott Creach.