Girlfriend accused of perjury

A Spokane woman’s love for a murderous biker may end with her joining him behind bars.

Police arrested Patricia Lascelles, 47, on suspicion of first-degree perjury Wednesday for her testimony last summer in the trial of her live-in boyfriend, Benjamin Burkey, who was convicted and sentenced to 69 years in prison for the murder of Rick Tiwater in 2005.

Lascelles testified for the prosecution both in the trial of Burkey and his accomplice, James Tesch, who was also convicted of murder and is serving a 40-year sentence. The lead detective on the case, Tim Hines, discovered serious discrepancies while reviewing her testimony in the two trials, and contends that Lascelles committed felony perjury on at least three occasions.

Jurors found Burkey and Tesch guilty of assaulting Rick Tiwater with a hammer and golf clubs, setting his face and head on fire, running over him with a Ford Thunderbird and dumping his body on a remote trail in the woods of North Spokane.

The initial assault occurred in the home Burkey and Lascelles shared at 1412 East Ostrander Ave. in Spokane. In the trial of James Tesch, Lascelles testified that she saw Burkey mopping up blood in the kitchen with a towel after Tesch assaulted Tiwater with a hammer.

At Burkey’s trial nine days later, she denied ever seeing her boyfriend cleaning up blood.

That and other acts inconsistencies in her testimony could land Lascelles behind bars for a year or more.

Lascelles also originally testified that she had seen both Burkey and Tesch carrying Tiwater’s riding chaps and leather jacket into the house, after they returned from killing Tiwater.

In her revised testimony, she said only Tesch had carried the clothing. in

All three men rode motorcycles, and Tesch was a confirmed member of the Gypsy Jokers motorcycle gang, which has been linked by the FBI to methamphetamine sales.

According to Lascelles’ original testimony, Tesch ordered her to clean the blood out of the Thunderbird, and Burkey gave her $20 to do the work. At Burkey’s trial she said he had nothing to do with cleaning blood out of the car.

By the time of the murder, Burkey had racked up more than 65 convictions for drugs, driving under the influence and other crimes. He was a confidential informant for local law enforcement and the FBI, and his guilt in the murder was never much in doubt – Tiwater’s skin and blood were found on the underside of his 1987 Ford Thunderbird.

Yet Lascelles said at Burkey’s trial that she still loved him.

Detectives say that is why she changed her testimony at his trial in an attempt to minimize his involvement in the murder.