Convicted killer faces lengthy prison term
Unless 25-year-old Brian M. “Squirrel” James has a lifespan of biblical proportions, he’s never going to get out of prison.
A jury convicted James on Thursday of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, second-degree assault, first-degree burglary, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and enough weapon “enhancements” to put his sentence in the neighborhood of 60 years.
Deputy Prosecutors Matt Duggan and Mark Cipolla hadn’t worked out the details of James’ complicated sentencing range, but details aren’t likely to matter much when Superior Court Judge Harold Clarke III sentences James on Jan. 6. Whatever James gets will be on top of the 64 1/4 -year sentence he picked up in August.
The August sentence was for shooting and attempting to murder two strangers in June 2004 while they walked along a north Spokane street.
A jury took only 1 1/2 hours Thursday to convict James of killing a man who defended a woman from James’ uncle, 42-year-old Robert T. “Shorty” Spencer. Spencer was trying to force the woman, an independent prostitute, to accept him as her pimp.
The murder victim, James Alan Johnston, drove the knife-wielding Spencer out of a downtown apartment where the woman had taken refuge, but Spencer returned later that day with James. Spencer and James said they entered the apartment with permission, but James’ jury determined that he and his uncle broke the door down.
Spencer struck Johnston with a metal pipe, cutting his forehead to the bone, but the 5-foot-3-inch pimp was still no match for Johnston, who was more than 6 feet tall. So James shot Johnston.
James testified that he had been sleeping, was awakened by a gunshot someone else fired, and fled for fear of being hit. Other witnesses identified James as the shooter.
James’ first-degree and second-degree murder convictions both were for Johnston’s death. The first-degree murder conviction was based on a state law that allows first-degree murder convictions if a victim dies in the course of a first-degree burglary or some similar felony.
Duggan said one of the issues at James’ sentencing will be whether he can be sentenced for each of the two murder convictions.
The jury slapped a five-year firearm enhancement onto each murder conviction as well as the burglary conviction, as well as a three-year deadly weapon enhancement for the pipe Spencer wielded.
State law allows juries to convict defendants for acts of their accomplices, and James was convicted of second-degree assault for the blow Spencer struck.
A jury convicted Spencer in August of second-degree murder, two counts of second-degree assault, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree promoting prostitution. Clarke sentenced him last month to a standard-maximum 44 3/4 years in prison.