Deliberations continue in killing

A jury of six men and six women will return today to continue deliberating the fate of Kevin Wayne Newland, who is charged with murdering 19-year-old Jamie Lynn Drake.

Newland, 21, chose not to take the stand Wednesday to explain why he went to Drake’s apartment or why he stole her prized Ford Mustang and used her credit card to purchase such items as fast-food and T-shirts at NorthTown Mall.

Instead, Assistant Public Defender Al Rossi used his closing statements Thursday to try to poke holes in the prosecution’s case that was strengthened by Newland’s confession to killing Drake and stuffing her body under the crawl space of his mother’s cabin in Stevens County.

“You have to have a motive or it doesn’t make sense to talk about premeditation,” Rossi said.

But Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Larry Steinmetz had a different view.

“It was a brutal, vicious, calculated murder,” Steinmetz said. “A murder can be planned out for years … or seconds. This case should not be judged on motive. Sometimes you just don’t know why.”

Newland told detectives that he entered Drake’s apartment looking for his former girlfriend, who was Drake’s roommate. He startled Drake, who then screamed, and he placed his hand over her mouth. She then bit his finger, and Newland told detectives that he punched her in the throat.

Drake apparently hit her head on the way down. He didn’t like the look on her face so he decided to wrap two plastic bags over her head, according to court records and testimony

Although she could not be certain, Spokane County Medical Examiner Dr. Sally Aiken had said the manner of death was most likely suffocation from the plastic bags.

A person would lose consciousness after two minutes and asphyxiate in about five minutes with plastic bags tied around his or her head, Steinmetz said. To illustrate how long that would be, he remained silent for five minutes as the jury waited.

“One cannot even imagine the type of death Jamie Drake went through,” Steinmetz said. “He could have resuscitated her. He could have called 911. … He could have run from the apartment. What was his design? I would submit it was to kill.”

Newland faces both first-degree premeditated murder and felony first-degree murder charges. Under the first statute, the prosecution must show that Newland planned the killing prior to carrying it out.

In the second charge, all they must show is that Newland killed Drake in the commission, furtherance or fleeing from a robbery or burglary.

He also faces eight counts of forgery for using Drake’s credit card and two counts of second-degree theft.

If convicted, Newland faces a maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole.