Women accused of beating witness

Two women are accused of beating a man to try to keep him from testifying in a downtown Spokane homicide case.

Marcie Jo Michael, 34, and Lisa Ann “Pebbles” Michael, 38, were booked into jail Wednesday on suspicion of witness intimidation and remained there Thursday in lieu of $500,000 bail each.

Court documents don’t say what the two women’s relationship may be, but list Marcie Michael as the girlfriend of 45-year-old Wayne Walksnice Jr., who is charged with second-degree murder in the June 10 beating death of Ernest “Sonny” Hamlin.

Hamlin was living under the Interstate 90 overpass at Fourth and Division when Walksnice allegedly picked him up and slammed him onto the pavement in an effort to get Hamlin’s beer. Hamlin died of a head injury.

Marcie and Lisa Michael allegedly were angry with Dalton R. Moss, one of several downtown transients who gave police information about Hamlin’s death. Moss wasn’t an eyewitness but told police about a conversation he had with Walksnice.

Court documents say Moss told police that Walksnice claimed to have thrown Hamlin to the pavement because Hamlin attacked him with a knife.

It wasn’t clear why Moss’ account would be singled out considering that eyewitnesses appeared to provide stronger evidence against Walksnice. But Lisa Michael allegedly told Moss his name was “all over” Walksnice’s court charging documents.

Court documents in Lisa Michael’s case say she and others approached Moss last Saturday or Sunday afternoon at Dick’s Drive Inn at Third and Division while he was helping another witness in the murder case into a “detox” van.

Police identified Lisa Michael’s companions as Tony “Pops” Ackerman and a woman called Star.

Moss told officers that Lisa Michael hit him in the face, kicked him in the testicles and called him a snitch. Then, Moss said, Ackerman punched him in the mouth and told him to keep his mouth shut unless he wanted more of the same.

Moss told police the woman called Star told him to “stand still” so she could assault him, too.

A Community Detox Services van driver told police she advised Moss to run, according to court documents. An hour later, the driver said, she saw Marcie Michael, Lisa Michael and Star kicking and hitting Moss and calling him a snitch again.

Police spotted Marcie and Lisa Michael across the street from the House of Charity at Pacific and Browne on Wednesday and took them into custody. As of Thursday, Ackerman had not been arrested.

Lisa Michael told police she gave Moss a playful slap on the arm, nothing more.