Man Gets 12 Years For Killing Prostitute

A Spokane man who strangled a prostitute to death in his Browne’s Addition apartment was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison.

Samuel Severin was convicted of second-degree murder July 24.

During the weeklong trial in Spokane County Superior Court, he contended the death was an accidental byproduct of kinky sex.

Defense attorney Richard Fasy sought an acquittal, calling Janelle Potter’s death a case of sexual asphyxiation. Fasy said Severin choked Potter, 26, with a cloth necktie the night of Dec. 15, but never intended to kill her.

Experts on deviant sexual practices testified for the defense about people who choke themselves or their lovers to the brink of unconsciousness to heighten orgasms.

While unable to furnish a clear motive for the killing, Deputy Prosecutor Jack Driscoll argued that Severin’s story didn’t ring true.

“His only intent was to cause death - not pleasure,” he said.

Dr. George Lindholm, the forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy, testified that the wounds on the woman’s neck had been caused by a thin ligature such as a cord or shoelace.

Lindholm said he was “95 percent certain” that a necktie didn’t kill Potter.

Driscoll said Potter was an easy victim because she was high on crack and hadn’t slept in several days. Severin, an unemployed gas station attendant, told detectives he and Potter smoked crack before having sex.

Instead of calling police after she died, Severin said he panicked, running outside in the snow in his shorts. He later turned himself in - after a neighbor called authorities.

The jury deliberated less than two hours before finding Severin guilty as charged. He has no prior felony convictions, authorities said.

, DataTimes