In brief: Judge orders release of Summer’s body
A judge on Thursday ordered the body of 4-year-old Summer Phelps released to her family after lawyers for a Spokane couple charged in her death withdrew their request for a second autopsy.
The girl’s father, Jonathan D. Lytle, 28, and stepmother, 32-year-old Adriana Lytle, have pleaded not guilty to homicide by abuse charges. They are being held in the Spokane County Jail on $500,000 bail each.
The family of the girl’s biological mother was scheduled to bury her last weekend, but a judge agreed to give defense lawyers time to conduct a second autopsy. Spokane County Medical Examiner Dr. Sally Aiken concluded the girl died as a result of homicide but has not made public the cause of death.
Police detectives said the child suffered severe abuse.
Defense lawyers were unable to find a pathologist to conduct a second autopsy, so they will hire an independent forensic pathologist to review Aiken’s autopsy report.
– Associated Press
Stark fined $500 for campaign violations
Spokane City Councilman Brad Stark was fined $500 Wednesday for campaign finance violations.
The state Public Disclosure Commission ruled that Stark broke campaign laws by missing deadlines for filing contribution reports and other data by a year or more.
The violations arose from a fundraising barbecue Stark held in August 2005. State law required Stark to report the $4,479 he raised within two weeks. Instead he waited 409 days – after it became an issue in his unsuccessful GOP primary bid for Spokane County assessor.
After the barbecue, Stark received an additional $534 by mail. Stark reported those contributions 381 days late, the commission said.
“I screwed up. I always admitted I screwed up,” Stark said. “I’m one of the many folks who have had this violation against them.”
The commission suspended $100 of Stark’s fine provided he doesn’t violate campaign finance law for four years, said Kurt Young, a commission compliance officer.
– Jonathan Brunt
Missing 11-year-old found six miles away
An 11-year-old girl who disappeared from downtown Spokane on Thursday afternoon was found three hours later and six miles away.
Patience Ingram turned up at the intersection of Sprague Avenue and Mullan Street in Spokane Valley, said Officer Tim Moses of the Spokane Police Department.
Based on calls from residents, police determined she was headed east on a path along Sprague Avenue, Moses said. An officer found her.
Patience went missing after her foster parents visited a church at Second Avenue and Division Street about 3:30 p.m.
Police were worried that the developmentally disabled child was not familiar with the downtown Spokane area, but the girl was headed toward an old residence in the Spokane Valley, Moses said.
– Christopher Rodkey