Two men on probation for unrelated criminal charges in Montana have been charged in connection with a shooting in February outside a Spokane Valley tavern.

Spokane Valley police officers, who are deputies contracted to work as police, responded to the Oasis Tavern, in the 14900 block of East Trent Avenue, at about 11:30 p.m. on Feb. 24 on the report of a man shot in the abdomen.

As the result of the investigation, Detective Kirk Keyser has requested that prosecutors charge 29-year-old Jarrod Veilleux with one count of first-degree assault and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm.

In addition, Keyser recommended charging 32-year-old Terrance Riley with rendering criminal assistance, sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Craig Chamberlin said in a news release.

Both Veilleux and Riley currently remain in custody in Montana, where they both had been on probation through the Montana Department of Corrections. That probation prohibited both of them from leaving the state, Chamberlin said.

Man resentenced for road-rage shooting

A man who shot a retired teacher to death in a 2002 road-rage case was resentenced Friday after his first sentencing was thrown out by appellate judges.

Christopher W. Conklin, 31, previously pleaded guilty to a road-rage shooting in 2002. Conklin, then 21, was driving a Suburban when he struck a minivan near Division Street and Empire Avenue and deliberately sideswiped the minivan to force the driver to pull over.

Conklin then pistol whipped 23-year-old Richard Laws and tried to shoot him. The shot missed and instead killed 64-year-old passenger Melvin J. Hendrickson.

Superior Court Judge Linda Tompkins sentenced Conklin to just over 28 years in prison in 2003. But because of an error by attorneys in the calculation of good-time credit, appellate judges sent the case back for resentencing.

On Friday, Superior Court Judge Kathleen O’Connor sentenced Conklin to 20 years in prison for second-degree murder.

He was also given credit for about 10 years in prison he has already served, according to court records.

Crime spree results in life imprisonment

EVERETT – David “Joey” Pedersen has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to two murders in a deadly crime spree through Washington, Oregon and California.

Pedersen had pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of aggravated murder for killing his father, Red Pedersen, and his stepmother, Leslie Pedersen, in Everett in September.

Still facing trial is Holly Grigsby, Pedersen’s girlfriend, who is also charged with aggravated murder for the September killings.

They also face charges in Oregon and California. Federal prosecutors could consolidate the cases and prosecute them as hate crimes.

In court Friday, Pedersen admitted to killing two people in Oregon and California – a teen who was shot because he had a “Jewish- sounding” last name and a black man who Pedersen thought was a drug dealer.