In brief: Prisoner sentenced for ‘04 shooting death
A man who’s in prison for killing three people in a traffic collision was sentenced Thursday in another case in which he killed a man while fiddling with a loaded gun.
Kevin T. Culp was sentenced to three years Thursday by Judge Maryann Moreno after he pleaded guilty to shooting 19-year-old Cedric Sykes in the neck in April 2004.
Culp’s latest sentence will be served concurrently with his prison term for killing three members of a family in a July 2005 car wreck near Post Falls.
His vehicle crashed head-on into a minivan driven by Spokane Valley resident Henrietta Lewis, 40. She was killed, along with her sister, 30-year-old Tonia Lewis, of Pendleton, Ore. Tonia’s 9-month old son, Ebin Lewis, died about a month later from injuries suffered in the crash.
Culp has about six and a half more years to serve on the seven-and-a-half-year sentence he received for their deaths.
Culp was along for the ride while Sykes was shooting pictures for a rap album at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Spokane Valley. While Sykes drove back, Culp picked up a loaded pistol that had been used as a prop in photographs. Culp did not know the gun was loaded and fired a shot which hit Sykes.
Sykes later died in a hospital from his injuries.
– Christopher Rodkey
OLYMPIA
Senate votes to help save ‘heritage’ barns
The state Senate has voted to create a “Heritage Barn Program” to help pay for repairs on old barns.
“This is a good bill to help us remember our heritage,” said Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle.
In exchange for the maintenance grants, many of the barns would have to be open at least one day a year for visits by schoolchildren or nonprofit groups. Applicants would have to provide at least 50 percent of the cost of the work, although that could come from other grants or the value of their own labor. The program would be launched with $2.5 million in state money.
Barns would have to be more than 50 years old and be verified by the state Department of Archaeology, among other conditions. Milk houses, silos and other outbuildings could be included if they’re associated with the barn.
In hearings last month, proponents said barns are icons of traditional farming and should be preserved. Declining farm profits, expensive repairs, regulations and pressure to develop land are all conspiring, they said, to destroy old barns.
The bill passed the Senate on Thursday. It now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration.
– Richard Roesler
Boise
Hearing set on delay of Duncan trial
U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge has set a hearing for March 19 on motions by federal prosecutors and Joseph Duncan’s attorneys to delay the convicted killer’s March 20 trial date.
The U.S. attorney’s office is seeking a short delay in the trial and would like it to start no later than July 9, but Duncan’s attorneys are seeking a delay of more than a year and a half.
A federal grand jury indicted Duncan in January for the torture killing of 9-year-old Dylan Groene and the May 2005 kidnappings of the boy and his sister, Shasta, from the family’s home near Coeur d’Alene.
The 10-count indictment also charges Duncan with crimes including aggravated sexual abuse of both children
Duncan is incarcerated at a Boise-area prison, serving a life sentence for kidnapping charges related to the murders of the children’s mother, brother and mother’s fiance.
– Taryn Brodwater