Thomas Clouse

A man who died in custody at the Spokane County Jail on Sunday was identified Monday as Christopher J. Parker, 33. The Washington State Patrol is investigating the incident under the region’s critical incident protocol.

The Spokane Medical Examiner’s Office identified today the man found Sunday in a ditch west of Medical Lake and said he apparently froze to death.

A diabetic man arrested by Spokane police died during booking Sunday morning at the Spokane County Jail after he reportedly became uncooperative and jailers used a Taser to help subdue him, then placed him in a restraint chair. Authorities are withholding the man’s identity and have instituted the regional protocol, which puts another police agency in charge of the investigation. Spokane County corrections deputies placed the man in a restraint chair, where he stopped breathing and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, Deputy Mark Gregory said.

Spokane County Sheriff’s detectives are investigating what they are currently calling a suspicious death after an adult male was found dead in a ditch near the intersection of two rural roads west of Medical Lake.

A diabetic man arrested by Spokane Police died while during booking this morning at the Spokane County Jail after he reportedly became uncooperative and jailers used a Taser and other force to detain him in a restraint chair.

Two men, including one who sought help from singer Willie Nelson, were sentenced in federal court Thursday after pleading guilty to charges stemming from federal raids that shut down more than 40 medical marijuana dispensaries in Spokane. Dennis L. Whited and Jerry W. Laberdee, former owners of Medical Herb Providers, both pleaded guilty to charges of distribution of marijuana and maintaining a drug-involved premises.

Spokane officials could announce as early as this morning a decision to reinstate the entertainment license of the Knitting Factory after police Chief Frank Straub closed the downtown concert venue Monday following two gang-related shootings that occurred after a recent concert. Spokane City Attorney Nancy Isserlis said Straub and Knitting Factory CEO Greg Marchant have had “extraordinarily productive discussions” on increasing security at the venue.

Spokane city officials could announce as early as this morning the decision to reinstate the business license of the Knitting Factory after Police Chief Frank Straub closed the downtown concert venue Monday following two gang-related shootings that occurred after a recent concert.

Convicted killer Michael L. West Jr., now standing trial for gouging out the eyes of a fellow inmate, sat in a chair Tuesday with his hands cuffed to his waist and his bound legs secured by a chain to the floor as testimony began in Spokane County Superior Court. There’s no question that West, 36, permanently blinded Airway Heights Corrections Center inmate Chad E. Bolstad and beat another inmate in the gruesome 2010 attack.

Convicted killer Michael L. West Jr., now standing trial for gouging out the eyes of a fellow inmate, sat in a chair today with his hands cuffed to his waist and his bound legs secured by a chain to the floor as testimony began in Spokane County Superior Court.

Spokane developer Greg Jeffreys, who once claimed to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars and bragged that his typical workday included being flown in a Learjet to three cities, will have taxpayers foot his legal bill fighting a 73-count federal fraud indictment. A federal magistrate declared Jeffreys, 53, eligible for a public defender on Friday. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno then appointed Mark Vovos, who had been Jeffreys’ private attorney, to continue representing him at the lower federal defender rate of $125 per hour rather than his standard legal fees. Imbrogno ruled that Jeffreys “clearly qualifies for appointed counsel,” noting paperwork submitted by Vovos’ earlier showing Jeffreys’ debts outstrip his property and income.

Vovos drops Jeffreys as client

Court documents released today give chilling details about the plans two fifth graders from Colville had in place to kill a girl classmate and possibly others if they tried to intervene on the day they were caught with a knife and gun in school last week.

Bloody clothes helped Pend Oreille County deputies track down a man suspected of killing his mother. Matthew J. Swancara, 24, was arrested in Western Montana on Monday. Deputies expect him to be extradited to face charges of stabbing his mother, Sally Swancara, 56, to death in her home along Juanita Lane just north of the Spokane County line near Elk.