Man sentenced to 17 years in prison for homicide

Michael E. Harmon, who pleaded guilty to killing an acquaintance of his in October 2014, was sentenced to 17 years in prison Wednesday.

Harmon, 32, murdered Edward Weed, 46, at Weed’s north Spokane home, at 5418 N. Ash St., after a physical altercation on Oct. 29, 2014. Harmon told police he returned to the house several days later to find Weed in the same position and apparently dead.

Initially, the Spokane County Medical Examiner Dr. John Howard told investigators Weed’s injuries, which included a fractured nose and cuts on his forehead and cheek, did not cause his death. That decision was reversed after further investigation, when the Medical Examiner’s Office found Weed was strangled, and ruled his death a homicide later that year.

Harmon pleaded guilty to the killing on Feb. 14 to the relief of Weed’s mother, Barbara, who waited over two years for closure from her son’s death.

“I’m kind of glad that it’s all settled and I can kind of move on a little bit,” she said over the phone Tuesday. “I kept thinking I was going to have a trial to go through and everything. Now I don’t have to.”

She said was a little disappointed with the sentence, hoping that he’d get more than 20 years because “he took over 30 years away from my son,” she said.

Barbara Weed found her son in his home nine days after he was killed. She said her son’s dog, Tasha, a golden retriever-greyhound mix, was locked in the bathroom all the while without food or water, and after having sustained a stab wound to the face from a butcher’s knife.

“The dog is doing fine,” she said. “She still grieves and misses him, but she’s doing fine.”

Harmon was also ordered to pay restitution to Barbara Weed for an amount that will be set at a later date.