Thomas Clouse

Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker pleaded guilty today to a reduced charge of reckless driving in connection with a drunken driving crash in Spokane Valley this summer where he drove away from the scene.

The Spokane County Medical Examiner has confirmed today the identity of the Eastern State Hospital patient killed early Tuesday by strangulation. The victim was 56-year-old Duane E. Charley.

Former Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. is in a federal detention center south of Seattle, at least temporarily. The Federal Bureau of Prisons doesn’t yet have Thompson in its online roster of inmates, but an official at the Federal Detention Center SeaTac confirmed that Thompson had arrived there following his sentencing in Spokane on Thursday.

After being handed a sentence Thursday of more than four years in federal prison – the culmination of six years of investigations, legal action and community soul-searching – former Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. walked away passively in handcuffs. U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle admonished the courtroom in advance that demonstrations of any kind would be inappropriate, and the sentence was greeted with silence by both Thompson and Zehm supporters.

Spokane County prosecutors are following colleagues from King, Pierce and Clark counties in saying they will no longer prosecute adults 21 and older for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. “We are not going to prosecute any new cases,” said Jack Driscoll, chief criminal deputy Spokane County prosecutor, following passage last week by Washington voters of a marijuana-legalization law. “After Dec. 6, it is legal to possess an ounce” if you are 21 or older, he said.

It’s legal. After taking more time to review the new law, Spokane County prosecutors are now following colleagues from King, Pierce and Clark counties in saying they will no longer prosecute adults older than 21 for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.

After living free for a year as attorneys argued for a new trial, former Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. will learn his punishment for using excessive force and lying to investigators about his 2006 confrontation with Otto Zehm. Barring a last-minute delay, U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle will sentence Thompson on Thursday, more than a year after a jury in Yakima convicted him in a case that federal officials described as an “extensive cover-up” and that prompted widespread calls for police reform.

A Liberian national, who became a father and turned 22 this week, was sentenced Thursday to seven years in prison for a gang-related shooting in Spokane that left a 6-year-old girl wounded. In addition, Abubakar Samura will face certain deportation as soon as he is released, authorities said. He pleaded guilty late last month to two counts of second-degree assault stemming from the March 4 shooting that also injured Matthew W. Woods, who was 23 at the time.

A convicted child rapist who also preyed on prostitutes and used to work as a “stunt man” in sexually explicit movies likely will spend the rest of his life locked up as a violent sex predator, a Spokane jury decided Wednesday. James A. McMahan, 51, of Spokane, was described by authorities as having a mental abnormality that makes him likely to reoffend if he is released from state custody. The state attorney general’s office asked that he be indefinitely confined under civil commitment statutes designed to keep sexually violent predators off the streets after they’ve completed their prison terms.

A convicted child rapist who also preyed on prostitutes and used to work as a “stunt man” in sexually explicit adult movies likely will spend the rest of his life locked up as a violent sex predator, a Spokane jury decided today.

A DUI hearing for Ryan Crocker, former ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan, was postponed today for the third time. It’s now set for Nov. 21 at 1:30 p.m.

Faced with the prospect next year of going to voters to fund a new $200 million jail, Spokane County leaders are teaming up with community activists for a discussion about alternatives to put fewer people in jail while also reducing crime. Virtually every stakeholder, from new Spokane police Chief Frank Straub to judges to mental health professionals, will meet Friday for the Smart Justice Symposium, an all-day event at Northern Quest Resort and Casino.