Youth pleads guilty to murder in plea bargain

A 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder in the death of a 17-year-old Shadle Park High School student during a botched drug robbery.

James N. Beasley made his plea in Spokane County Juvenile Court as part of a plea bargain in the June 5 shooting death of Matthew Migaki.

In exchange, Beasley agreed to testify against his two co-defendants, Nicholas J. Walter, 24, and Caleb J. Hanowell, 17, who are scheduled for separate trials on Dec. 5. Walter, the alleged shooter, and Hanowell are charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery.

State law automatically sends 16- and 17-year-old defendants to adult court if they are charged with violent crimes. A judge’s order is required to transfer defendants younger than 16, and Deputy Prosecutor Bill Reeves had been seeking such an order for Beasley.

Reeves agreed to drop that request as well as a first-degree robbery charge in exchange for Beasley’s guilty plea to the murder charge.

Reeves also agreed to join Megan Manlove of the county’s Office of Counsel for Defense in recommending a below-standard sentence of 23/4 to 31/2 years in a state juvenile rehabilitation center. A standard sentence would be from 31/2 years to age 21, which would be a maximum of 51/3years in Beasley’s case.

The state Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration would determine how much of either range Beasley would serve.

Juvenile Court Judge Ellen Kalama Clark is to sentence Beasley on Nov. 2.

Reeves said Beasley was “maybe a little bit less culpable” than Hanowell, who is accused of supplying the weapon used in the killing, or Walter, who allegedly fired it.

Police say the suspects planned to rob Migaki by offering to buy 2 ounces of marijuana from him for $460. The plan called for Walter to intimidate Migaki by working the action of a sawed-off shotgun, but the gun fired and struck Migaki in the neck as the four young men sat in a car on a side street near the Safeway store at Francis Avenue and Monroe Street about 12:45 a.m., according to court documents.

Walter allegedly fled with the shotgun and the marijuana while Beasley and Hanowell took Migaki to Holy Family Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Under Washington’s felony murder rule, defendants can be convicted of murder if a victim dies in the course of a robbery or some other felony.