Spirit Lake killing leads to prison

A violent clash at a remote spot on Spirit Lake almost three years ago left one young man dead and another headed to prison.

Dylan P. Paschall, 22, was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison for the March 24, 2012, involuntary manslaughter of Luke Anana-Kuewa, 18.

Anana-Kuewa grew up in Hawaii, swimming in the Pacific. He wanted to be a lifeguard, his family said.

He drowned in frigid, shallow water at a party spot known as Bubba’s Pitt after a night of drinking rum and smoking marijuana turned into what prosecutors described as a savage beating involving Paschall and two other young males.

“They beat him to shut him up so the cops wouldn’t be called to their party,” Kootenai County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Robins told 1st District Judge Fred Gibler.

Paschall then misled investigators, who spent nearly a year trying to piece together what happened that night, Robins said.

“The defendant engaged in a cover-up, a lie,” he said.

J. Bradford Chapman, a deputy public defender, said Paschall in recent months has stayed clean and sober, living with his parents, volunteering at his church and working a job.

“Dylan … is full of deep remorse and grief about what happened that day, that evening,” Chapman told Gibler. “This will remain with Dylan the rest of his days.”

He described Anana-Kuewa’s death as a tragic confluence of factors but disputed that the teen died at Paschall’s hands, or that Paschall tried to duck responsibility for his actions that night. Chapman said Paschall went into the water to try to pull Anana-Kuewa back to shore, and he left that night believing the victim was still alive.

Kootenai County Sheriff’s detectives said Anana-Kuewa had been beaten, choked, smothered and left in the lake’s mill pond, where he drowned.

According to the investigation, a fight broke out and Anana-Kuewa “was either pushed, fell or fled into the water where he started screaming for help.” One of the other men choked and punched Anana-Kuewa several times to try to silence him, then Paschall smothered Anana-Kuewa with his hand and repeatedly punched him, detectives concluded.

In questioning by detectives, Paschall eventually admitted to smothering and punching the victim, Robins said.

“The defendant participated in a melee,” he said. “They were beating a drunk kid.”

Anana-Kuewa suffered cuts on his head and inside his mouth and dozens of bruises on his face and body, an autopsy showed.

Detectives arrested Paschall almost one year later, after months of interviews with him, two other males and an underage female who also were at Bubba’s Pitt that night. Paschall in June entered an Alford plea, accepting the consequences of a guilty verdict without admitting guilt.

Gibler sentenced Paschall to a prison term of four years fixed and six years indeterminate, with credit for 452 days he already served in jail. Paschall will spend at least 33 ½ months in prison.

Before he was taken into custody after Wednesday’s hearing, Paschall was given a moment to hug his parents goodbye.

County Prosecutor Barry McHugh said the evidence that would have been admissible at trial only supported charges against Paschall. However, to the extent there might be other responsible parties, the case is not yet closed, McHugh added.

Carol-lynn Kuewa, the victim’s mother, spoke at Wednesday’s sentencing. She said her son’s death devastated her family, and she described how her young daughter misses him.

“She is confused,” Kuewa said. “She doesn’t understand why she doesn’t have a big brother anymore to tuck her in.”