Starving inmate gets 14-year prison sentence

A Spokane County Jail inmate who’s trying to starve himself was sentenced to 171 months Thursday and is in the process of being transferred to the state prison system.

Charles Robert McNabb, 50, has told jail officials that he is trying to starve himself out of remorse for the serious burns his stepdaughter suffered in a May 23 Spokane fire he started.

McNabb was charged with starting the fire with Coleman fuel. He was also charged with six counts of first-degree assault in connection with the incident. He was scheduled to go to trial July 21.

On Thursday, McNabb offered guilty pleas on one count of first-degree assault and one count of first-degree arson.

McNabb was still not eating, said Spokane County Jail Commander Capt. Dick Collins.

“Because of his weakened condition we took him to court in a wheelchair,” Collins said.

Spokane County’s role in the situation will be over when McNabb is taken into state custody.

McNabb’s hunger strike became a legal battle between the county, which wants to keep McNabb alive, and his civil defense attorney, who argues that he has a right to not eat. McNabb has been taken to Sacred Heart Medical Center to be evaluated by doctors.

Spokane civil rights attorney David Blair-Loy filed an appeal to the state Court of Appeals, saying that McNabb has the absolute right to control anything that goes into his body.

Collins has said the jail’s medical staff believed that McNabb had lost enough weight to begin court-approved force-feeding, but the final decision would be made by Sacred Heart doctors.

Once in state custody, the state Court of Appeals could dismiss the case against Spokane County. Blair-Loy said he will ask the court to keep the case alive in an attempt to influence McNabb’s treatment in the state system.

“I understand Mr. McNabb’s wishes remain the same,” Blair-Loy said. “No matter who has custody, the legal principle remains the same.”

Blair-Loy said he spoke with McNabb in court Thursday.

“He seemed as well as can be expected under the circumstances,” Blair-Loy said. “He said to the court that he felt very sorry, and he had no memory of what happened.”

McNabb has lost almost 100 pounds since he started his hunger strike in early February.