Seattle police sergeant, two officers placed on leave for releasing suspect

Seattle police have placed a sergeant and two officers on leave for releasing a domestic violence suspect now accused of killing his roommate.

Assistant Police Chief Nick Metz said the suspect should have been booked into the King County Jail for investigation of domestic violence.

The 40-year-old man, Valente Alvarez-Guerrero, was arrested Wednesday night after a fight with his 36-year-old roommate, Arturo Guillen Ramirez. Alvarez-Guerrero talked police into letting him go by saying he had surgery scheduled for his hand the next day.

About 7 a.m. Thursday, the roommate was found stabbed to death at their apartment.

Police say Alvarez-Guerrero was arrested on a murder warrant about 6 p.m. Thursday in Fresno County, Calif., after a chase. He was held there in lieu of $1 million bail, and was charged Friday in King County with second-degree murder.

Arraignment is scheduled June 11 in Seattle.

OLYMPIA

Gay rights referendum moves on as is

Opponents of broader domestic partnerships for gay couples have stopped fighting the ballot title of a proposed referendum.

Referendum 71 seeks to overturn the latest expansion of Washington’s domestic partner law, which gives registered partners the same state rights as married couples. It doesn’t apply under federal law.

The sponsors at Protect Marriage Washington wanted slightly different wording in the referendum’s official summary on the state ballot. But coalition member Gary Randall said that legal challenge was dropped Friday, because it would have taken time away from gathering petition signatures.

Sponsors still need to collect nearly 121,000 valid voter signatures by July 25 to make it on the fall ballot.

OKANOGAN, Wash.

Prosecutor won’t pursue death penalty

Okanogan County Prosecutor Karl Sloan has decided not to seek the death penalty against three people accused of killing a pregnant woman March 1 in Tonasket, Wash.

The Wenatchee World reported Sloan told superior court Thursday the case did not warrant the death penalty.

If convicted of aggravated murder in the stabbing and beating death of Michelle Kitterman, the three would be sentenced to life in prison. They are 29-year-old Tansy F. Mathis, 38-year-old Brent L. Phillips, and 33-year-old David E. Richards, all of Spokane.

Investigators say a fourth defendant, 34-year-old Lacey K. Hirst-Pavek, of Tonasket, planned the attack because Kitterman was having an affair with her husband. She’s charged with first-degree murder.

KENT, Wash.

Man given 50 years for killing parents

A 44-year-old Kent man who killed his parents has been sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Vincent W. Housley pleaded guilty in February to murder charges and was sentenced Friday in King County Superior Court. He apologized to family members in the courtroom and said he didn’t remember the attack.

He had been smoking crack cocaine when he argued with his father, then beat 66-year-old Joe Housley and his 67-year-old mother Karen Housley with a baseball bat. Because they were still moaning, he stabbed them numerous times.

Housley was arrested at a motel in Tukwila. He told police he sold his mother’s car for an ounce of cocaine.

HELENA

Crews sent to squelch forest wildfires

The Bitterroot National Forest is reporting its first fires of the summer season.

Rangers said fire crews responded to a wildfire late Thursday afternoon in the Jack Creek area of the Sleeping Child drainage.

The Forest Service said the fire was approximately six acres in size when 17 firefighters arrived to contain it, and does not know how it started. Rainfall helped Friday, but crews expected to remain on site through the weekend.

On Friday afternoon, fire crews responded to a blaze sparked by a lightning storm south of the confluence of the East Fork and West Fork of the Bitterroot River.

Tuition hike approved for UM, MSU

The board of regents is raising tuition at the state’s two flagship campuses, the University of Montana in Missoula and Montana State University in Bozeman. Students at those schools will see a 3 percent tuition increase. The board voted, however, to continue a tuition freeze at smaller campuses.

The tuition increase for the next two years was approved on a 4-3 vote Friday.