Maupin Released, Plans To Join Wife In Florida

Thomas Edward Maupin, who twice was convicted of murdering a 6-year-old Spokane girl and twice had the convictions overturned, has been released from prison.

Maupin, 47, was arrested in early 1988 and charged with the first-degree murder of Tricna Cloy, who was abducted from her bedroom on Jan. 25, 1988.

Cloy’s brother, Elston, testified at two Spokane County trials he had seen Maupin, an unemployed itinerant, take the child from the family’s east Spokane house after Maupin met Tricna at a party earlier that evening.

The child’s body was found at a Spokane Valley gravel pit six months later.

Maupin was found guilty in 1990 and 1992. Both times a judge ordered him to serve 40 years in prison.

Both convictions were overturned by state courts for procedural and evidentiary reasons, leading to the possibility of a third trial this year.

After the brother recanted his story, Spokane prosecutors agreed to a plea bargain, letting Maupin plead guilty to second-degree murder.

He was sentenced in July to a 12-year-prison term. With credit for time he had served prior to the plea, Maupin was released from prison recently after serving a total of 7 years, 3 months and 24 days, Corrections officials said.

Maupin told his Spokane attorneys he planned to move to Florida to join his wife.

, DataTimes