Thomas Clouse

A judge who suggested a swindler could afford to pay more in restitution if he stopped renting a home on 40 acres, gave up cable and quit tithing will have to reconsider his ruling, an appeals court decided. The Division III Court of Appeals did not rule Tuesday that Superior Court Judge Michael Price abused his discretion. But the three judges agreed that the case should return to Price for reconsideration.

A judge who suggested a swindler could afford to pay more in restitution if he stopped renting a home on 40 acres, gave up cable and quit tithing will have to reconsider his ruling, an appeals court decided.

The Washington State Patrol is investigating a December incident involving a vehicle and pedestrian north of Spokane that left a piece of metal embedded in the victim’s head. A search warrant filed in Spokane County Superior Court details the investigation into potential felony hit-and-run and vehicular assault charges against 32-year-old Todd A. Lester, who was arrested but has not been formally charged.

As the Spokane Police Department starts its makeover, one of the top suggestions by the city’s Use of Force Commission is for police officials to upgrade the training of officers who instruct other officers. The extensive review of the department’s policies and procedures found that no Spokane police officers have received instructor recertification since 2007.

The man found dead Tuesday on a sidewalk in North Spokane died from hypothermia and his death has been officially listed as accidental.

A man arrested for attacking woman Sunday morning with a hatchet is also accused of dragging the woman down the street, forcing her into a garage and demanding sex from her before stealing her purse.

The long-awaited draft report by the independent City of Spokane Use of Force Commission was released today and it calls the Spokane Police Department to change how it polices itself and calls for more training to ensure that officers diffuse problems before they escalate into deadly-force confrontations.

A man charged with robbing a North Spokane grocery store at gunpoint was ordered held in the Spokane County Jail today on a $150,000 bond.

A Hayden man charged with killing a man who had stopped to assist another motorist on Interstate 90 west of Spokane was ordered Monday to remain in the Spokane County Jail. Robert J. Dyer, 24, was driving with a suspended driver’s license Friday evening when he struck another vehicle in the westbound lanes of Interstate 90 near the Thor/Freya exit, Washington State Patrol Trooper Troy Briggs said.

The Hayden man charged with killing a pedestrian who had stopped Friday to assist another motorist on Interstate 90 west of Spokane was ordered today to remain in the Spokane County Jail.

Family members gasped with joy and wept Friday as a judge threw out the disputed robbery convictions of three Spokane men who have argued for years that they were framed by a snitch who was trying to spare himself and his brother from longer prison terms. Superior Court Judge Michael Price, after reviewing new evidence in the case, offered scathing criticism of what he called the failures of the three attorneys who previously defended Paul E. Statler, Tyler W. Gassman and Robert E. Larson. Price vacated the 2009 convictions for robbery, assault and drive-by shooting that netted Statler about 42 years, Gassman 26 and Larson 20 years in prison.

Spokane city leaders will meet today to begin planning for how to deal with businesses that want to sell state-sanctioned marijuana. City Council members will meet with the city of Spokane Plan Commission to map out priorities for the next year, Councilman Jon Snyder said. Part of that discussion will be how to deal with the voter-approved Initiative 502, which allows residents 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.

The drug-trafficking convictions of the man who operated Spokane’s first medical marijuana dispensary were reversed Tuesday in a state Appeals Court ruling that also appears to clear the way for commercial dispensaries to operate legally in Eastern Washington. While the case provides needed clarification in state law over how medical marijuana users can legally fill their prescriptions, U.S. Attorney Mike Ormsby said federal prosecutors will continue to target certain operations.