Man pleads guilty in beating death

Tue., June 20, 2006

The Spokesman-Review

A murder suspect pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree manslaughter in connection with the beating death of a man last September in downtown Spokane.

Anthony Eugene Pritchett, 36, had been charged with second-degree murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge as his murder trial was set to begin, deputy prosecutor Martin Rollins said.

Pritchett pleaded guilty to the beating death of Richard “Ricky” Morgan, 39, who was found lying on the ground at Second Avenue and Madison Street on Sept. 15, 2005.

Spokane police detectives determined that another man was with Pritchett when he punched Morgan during a drug dispute. Morgan fell back and suffered a fractured skull, Rollins said.

The other suspect, 28-year-old Shomari M. Jackson, pleaded guilty March 1 to second-degree assault. Both Jackson and Pritchett are scheduled to be sentenced June 28 in separate hearings.

Pritchett faces 17 to 23 years in prison, not counting credit for time served. Had he been convicted of second-degree murder, Pritchett would have faced 24 to 33 years in prison, Collins said.

Driver thinks fast after fuel truck hit

An alert fuel truck driver helped avoid disaster early Monday when a van crashed into his tanker, setting it on fire.

When the driver, 60-year-old Jack Schoonover, realized gas was leaking from his tanker, he drove the truck one block farther so firefighters would have easier access, police and fire officials said. Spokane firefighters used foam to stop the blaze.

The crash occurred about 3 a.m. near Ruby and Mission when a woman in a van ran a red light, Spokane Police Department spokesman Cpl. Tom Lee said. The van driver, Lauri Hildesheim, was cited for the traffic violation and for driving while her license was suspended. No one was hurt in the crash, Lee said.

LONGMIRE, Wash.

Park worker’s body believed found

A body found Monday in Mount Rainier National Park appears to be that of a missing park worker originally from Illinois.

Darcy Quick, 22, failed to return from a hike Friday evening. After a helicopter spotted a body at the base of Comet Falls on Monday morning, a ground crew confirmed that it matched the description of the missing woman, said Lee Taylor, a park spokeswoman.

Taylor said formal confirmation of the identification would come from the Pierce County medical examiner. A medical examiner’s spokesman said Monday evening his office had not yet received the body.

Quick, a Chicago-area native who recently graduated from Hope College in Holland, Mich., had been at the park for a summer job at National Park Inn.

sandpoint

Bertollini plea deal meets hurdle

Across the street from where he once preached his racist message, former Aryan Nations financier R. Vincent Bertollini was led in handcuffs into 1st District Court on Monday for arraignment on two felonies.

Under a tentative plea bargain, Bertollini was expected to plead guilty to bail jumping and drunken driving, but he balked at the deal minutes after Judge Steve Verby said he wouldn’t be bound by the sentencing recommendations.

Bertollini was arrested by FBI agents in Santa Fe, N.M., on April 12 for being a federal fugitive for five years. Agents found eight firearms, including a sawed-off shotgun, leading to the federal charges filed last week in New Mexico.

Bertollini vanished from Bonner County in July 2001, shortly before he was to stand trial on his third DUI arrest in Idaho in a five-year period.

– Compiled from staff

and wire reports

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