Vehicular homicide trial on hold
The vehicular homicide trial of Michael Q. Beckley, accused of killing toddler Gabby Autry last year in a traffic accident, has been delayed for the fourth time – this time due to the serious illness of the lead prosecutor.
Also, Beckley’s public defenders have asked the judge to consider a change of venue due to what they call “inflammatory” pretrial publicity since the May 23, 2007, collision.
Spokane County Superior Court Judge Michael P. Price was informed of the illness of Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Clint Francis on Wednesday, when several critical pretrial motions in the case were scheduled to be argued over one to two days. Beckley’s trial was supposed to start June 2.
Price granted the state’s request for a continuance due to Francis’ illness. Price said he’d set a new trial date after conferring with attorneys about their schedules and witness availability.
“You’d like to see this matter resolved; I don’t continue this lightly,” Price said to Beckley, adding that the delay was for good cause. Beckley, 34, who has 11 prior felony convictions and eluded authorities seeking to arrest him after last year’s collision, has spent nearly a year in the Spokane County Jail awaiting trial.
Price also granted a state request to add a charge of driving with a suspended license to the list of offenses Beckley is facing. His public defenders had objected to the new charge.
According to a Washington State Patrol report, Beckley was coming down from a methamphetamine high when he drove his Chevy Blazer at 55 miles per hour into the rear of the Autrys’ Subaru, which was stopped at a red light on Day-Mt. Spokane Road – causing massive head injuries to 22-month old Gabby.
Beckley was rearraigned Wednesday, pleading not guilty to vehicular homicide but pleading guilty to the new driving with suspended license charge. Price gave prosecutors until this afternoon to file paperwork for the guilty plea.
In a new request filed Monday, Spokane County Deputy Public Defenders Steven C. Heintz and Kevin D. Griffin said pretrial publicity “may affect Mr. Beckley’s right to a fair and impartial trial.” The motion asks Price to move the trial or bring in jurors from another county if an impartial jury cannot be seated.
Attached to the request: 22 pages listing media accounts of the crash and the death of Gabby Autry, including a December 2007 Spokesman-Review story on the void left in the life of parents Steve and Belle Autry after the death of their only child.