Swinford jury breaks with no verdict
WENATCHEE — As in his first trial, jurors in the second murder trial of Steven M. Swinford went home at 5:30 p.m. Thursday after three hours of deliberation, with no verdict reached.
Swinford again claims self-defense in killing
WENATCHEE — A more defiant Steven Swinford faced a more impassioned prosecutor Thursday as he testified in his second trial for murder. Swinford, now being retried for the January 2011 killing of his best friend Paul Raney, argued back from the stand as Chelan County Deputy Prosecutor Doug Shae accused him of rashly opening fire on an unarmed man. Swinford testified that he only picked up a .45-caliber pistol and shot Raney seven times after Raney reached for a gun of his own.
90-day sentence in troubled incest case
WENATCHEE — Brent Magarrell, a Wenatchee man initially accused of rape and incest, was sentenced Wednesday to 90 days in jail on greatly reduced charges. Magarrell, 45, pleaded guilty last month instead to misdemeanor domestic violence and felony possession of psilocybin mushrooms, almost two years after he was arrested on a 16-year-old female relative’s report of sexual assault.
Tried again: Swinford offers defense in fatal shooting
WENATCHEE — But for an empty iPod battery, Steven Swinford might never have come to trial. Swinford, now 21, was trying to plug in and play music from the device when an argument with friend Paul Raney led him to fire seven times with a .45-caliber pistol, killing his friend.
Bob Stewart guilty in animal abuse case
WENATCHEE — Robert J. “Bob” Stewart, frequently in trouble with Chelan County authorities over his rural Cashmere homestead, was convicted last week of seven misdemeanors relating to his neglectful care of horses. A Chelan County District Court jury found Stewart, 70, guilty of seven out of eight counts brought after a Wenatchee Valley Humane Society investigation last fall.
Blood and guns: Forensics take stage in Swinford trial
WENATCHEE — Among the survivors of Paul Raney, the sound of a handgun mechanism in a Chelan County courtroom was reason to shudder.
Andrew Williams’s home state is catching up to his historic wedding
All the barriers to Andrew Williams’s marriage fell suddenly away in May 2004, except one. Wenatchee native Williams and his longtime partner, Juan Teran Navarro, had met and fallen and love at Cooper, Robertson and Partners, the Manhattan architecture firm where they worked. They planned a May 22, 2004 wedding in New York — a public dedication ceremony that lacked legal force, but which would seal their union in the eyes of their friends and family.
Eyewitness recalls Raney's death
WENATCHEE — The wire-rimmed glasses and reddish beard were new. Everything else about Steven Flick's testimony felt the same.
Cashmere teacher sentenced to probation for domestic violence
A Cashmere teacher will serve two years on probation after pleading guilty Monday to domestic violence.
Swinford retrial opens: murder or self defense?
WENATCHEE — There’s no question Steven M. Swinford shot and killed Paul Raney a year ago in a Manson living room. “That’s obvious,” Chelan County Deputy Prosecutor Doug Shae told a jury as Swinford’s trial opened Tuesday. The issue, he said, is “whether we excuse that act.”
Swinford retrial to commence Tuesday
WENATCHEE — A Jury of 11 women and three men will reconsider the case against Steven M. Swinford, charged with murder for shooting his longtime friend to death.
20 years in beating of parent
WATERVILLE — Daniel Farias, convicted of beating his 60-year-old mother unconscious with a crucifix, was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison.
After a hung jury, Swinford goes back to trial for murder
WENATCHEE — The retrial of Steven M. Swinford, whose first trial for the killing of his friend Paul Raney ended with a hung jury, starts Monday. Chelan County jurors will be asked whether Swinford, now 21, committed second-degree murder when he shot Raney in a Manson living room Jan. 28, 2011. Raney, 22, died from seven gunshots to the chest and abdomen from Swinford’s .45-caliber pistol.
Outing the informants
Craigslist thread IDs supposed police tipsters
Craigslist thread IDs supposed police tipsters in North Central Washington.
Incest case ends in lesser plea
WENATCHEE — The two-year prosecution of a man accused of incest ended Monday in guilty pleas to misdemeanor domestic violence and drug possession. Brent A. Magarrell, 45, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault against a 16-year-old female relative, and to possessing psilocybin mushrooms in his Wenatchee apartment. He admitted the drug possession but entered an Alford plea to the domestic violence charge, maintaining his innocence while acknowledging the evidence would likely result in a guilty verdict if the case went to trial.
Pot dispensary partner accused of mushroom possession
WENATCHEE — Two months after a criminal case against her husband was thrown out, the wife of a Chelan medical marijuana provider faces a charge of possessing magic mushrooms. Tamara Amendolare, 31, was accused by summons of keeping psilocybin mushrooms in a dresser drawer of her Chelan home, raided on a search warrant Sept. 15 by the Columbia River Drug Task Force. That search also seized about 90 marijuana plants and seedlings, and led to initial charges of unlawful pot manufacture against her husband, Joseph E. Amendolare, also 31.
NCW voters asked to replace school levies
NCW — Several school districts in North Central Washington are asking voters to support tax levies during a special election Feb. 14. Most of the requests would replace existing maintenance and operations levies that expire at the end of this year.
Wenatchee
Wenatchee Half of naked couple sentenced
Parting the Curtain
Dave Reichert reaches out in a Cascade-crossing 8th District
U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, long a west-side congressman, reaches out in a new Cascade-crossing 8th District.
Anybody home?
Another census figure that alarmed Leavenworth housing planners was a 26 percent rate of vacancy among homes within the city, up from 18 percent a decade ago. On closer look, that’s not out of the ordinary for an NCW tourist or resort town: The city of Chelan had a 36 percent vacancy rate.
A nice place to visit, but ... Leavenworth steps up on drooping population numbers
LEAVENWORTH — Taci Ellingson moved here about 20 years ago from Everett. Preparing for her first baby, she wanted to live near her parents, who’d bought a Leavenworth home to retire in. “It was easy to find cheaper rentals back then,” said Ellingson.
Commitment sought for bomb threat suspect
WENATCHEE — A Cashmere man accused of threatening to bomb the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center pharmacy may be involuntarily committed for mental health treatment. Under a judge’s order given Wednesday, Eastern State Hospital will evaluate Michael E. Taber, 42, who visited the pharmacy March 22 and reportedly asked an employee, “Isn’t the clinic scheduled for a firebombing later this afternoon?”
Beating suspect’s mental health questioned
WENATCHEE — A Malaga man accused of severely injuring another man by stomping him in the head is not competent to stand trial for the act, a psychiatric report says.
Tougher sentence sought for assault on mother
WATERVILLE — The man convicted of beating his mother unconscious with a crucifix faces a longer-than-normal prison term if a prosecutor’s recommendation is accepted next week. Daniel Farias, found guilty Dec. 15 of first-degree assault for attacking his 60-year-old mother, is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday. Douglas County Deputy Prosecutor Eric Biggar wants Farias, 29, to serve an exceptional sentence of 23 years in prison for the crime.
Wenatchee drug suspect slips from federal custody
Sandra Duffy, a Wenatchee drug dealer who once jumped off Sleepy Hollow Bridge to escape police, is sought by U.S. Marshals after disappearing from a medical furlough.
Wilson’s trial date pushed to May
WENATCHEE — Murder defendant Christopher Scott Wilson will stand trial beginning May 22 in the killing of 17-year-old Mackenzie Cowell. The new date, set in a special hearing Wednesday in Chelan County Superior Court, supercedes a prior March 19 trial start. Cowell, a Wenatchee High School senior and hairstyling student, disappeared from downtown Wenatchee Feb. 9, 2010, and was found dead four days later at Crescent Bar.
Statutory rape charge follows home investigation
WENATCHEE — Police said they found a 23-year-old man in bed with a 13-year-old girl Jan. 1 in a house that was supposed to be unoccupied.
Social media strategist will Facebook for food
WENATCHEE — Darren Reynolds has his fingers in coffee, music and business. That leaves very few fingers for updating his Twitter stream or sharing events on Facebook. Enter Dominick Bonny, 26, a former journalist with ideas to help Reynolds’ coffee shop Caffé Mela push its brand on social media platforms. That was December 2010 — for the last year, when Caffé Mela updates its feed with new events and promotions for customers, it’s mostly been Bonny clicking the return key.
Chiwawa homeowners take dispute to high court
WENATCHEE — Feuding neighbors in the Chiwawa River Pines community will take their dispute over nightly rentals all the way to the Washington Supreme Court. Homeowners within the 367-lot planned community have been embroiled in lawsuits since 2009 with Chiwawa River Pines’ governing board, which argued short-term and overnight rentals are banned under neighborhood covenants. Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges overturned that ban in a Dec. 15 decision, affirming owners may offer their property for “residential rentals of any duration.”
Redistricting plan fattens 12th, 13th boundaries
OLYMPIA — The final plan for Washington redistricting offers NCW’s 12th Legislative District bigger than expected portions of Grant and Okanogan Counties, and widens the 13th into a rural belt across the middle of the state. In other respects, the Washington Redistricting Commission plan finalized Sunday for legislative approval reflects that of Republican Commissioner Tom Huff, who negotiated the shape of Eastern Washington’s legislative districts with Democrat Dean Foster.
Missing Cashmere teens said to be runaways
CASHMERE — Two Cashmere teens, missing since Friday night, are runaways, Sgt. Bruce Long with the Chelan County Sheriff's Office said Monday morning.
Home invasion ends with suspect’s stabbing
CHELAN FALLS — Chelan County sheriff’s deputies said a man suspected of breaking into a Chelan Falls home was stabbed by the homeowner in self-defense.
Driver smashes power pole, takes off
WENATCHEE — A hit-and-run driver left a power pole hanging by its wires early Sunday — and left his license plate on the street for police to find.
Redistricting plan preserves 12th, widens 13th District
OLYMPIA — A late-night redistricting compromise largely maintains North Central Washington's 12th Legislative District, while reshaping the 13th to absorb Lincoln County voters.
A winter's walk
Nature-watching snowshoe tours kick up crust at Hatchery
Nature-watching snowshoe tours kick up crust at Hatchery.
Cop’s domestic violence case deferred for treatment
WENATCHEE — The Seattle police detective charged with domestic violence after a Leavenworth Oktoberfest scuffle will avoid prosecution if he carries out a program of alcoholism treatment and probation. Ronald Lee Murray, 55, admitted to a history of alcoholism Thursday in Chelan County District Court, telling Judge Nancy Harmon he would undergo two years of treatment followed by three years of court supervision.
Douglas and Chelan could split in redistricting process
OLYMPIA — The shape of NCW’s state legislative districts appears to come down to a pair of competing plans put forward this week by redistricting commissioners.
Redistricting puts Chelan County, Wenatchee Valley in Reichert’s district
WENATCHEE — Fredi Simpson is going to miss Doc Hastings. Clark Hansen, not so much. Simpson, vice chair of the Chelan County Republican Central Committee, regrets the likely loss of GOP Rep. Hastings under a proposed redistricting plan that would mesh Chelan County and East Wenatchee with parts of King and Pierce in a revised 8th District.
File-snatching drug suspect gets 366 days
WENATCHEE — A drug defendant who got in hot water with Chelan County Superior Court for removing his case records from his attorney’s office was sentenced last week to 366 days in prison. Mauro Seferino Zamudio, 24, entered an Alford plea to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine Dec. 21, more than a month after Deputy Prosecutor Jim Hershey accused him of theft for taking the case file from lawyer Nicholas Yedinak’s Wenatchee office.
Man convicted of beating mother with crucifix
WATERVILLE — An East Wenatchee man was convicted Thursday of drunkenly beating his 60-year-old mother with a wall-hanging crucifix and leaving her without medical treatment for hours. Daniel Farias, 29, was found guilty by a Douglas County Superior Court jury of first-degree assault for attacking his mother sometime late Jan. 3 or early Jan. 4. Maria Farias suffered a contusion to her brain and broken bones in her face from the assault, and was found unconscious in her bed when deputies were called to her home in the 2600 block of N.W. Boston Avenue Jan. 4.
Wenatchee gangmember pleads guilty in Quincy shooting
EPHRATA — The gangmember charged in the April killing of a Quincy man pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder. Roberto “Lil Man” Murillo Vera, 21, of Wenatchee faces a sentence of 18 to 26 years in prison for the drive-by murder of Adan Beltran, 25, who was gunned down in the yard of his Quincy mobile home April 22. His attorney, George Trejo of Yakima, said crime lab analysis found genetic material traceable to Murillo on the magazine and bullet casings of the handgun used in the killing.
Books allowed: Jail accepts more print under federal decree
SPOKANE — The Chelan County jail agreed that it violated constitutional law by withholding books and magazines from inmates, and promised to do better under a federal consent decree. Under the terms of the agreement and a revised jail policy, prisoners of the Chelan County Regional Justice Center can now receive previously prohibited print matter including newspapers, catalogs, dictionaries, novels and educational materials.
24 months in embezzlement scheme
WATERVILLE — The bookkeeper who stole more than $165,000 from an East Wenatchee design firm was sentenced Monday to two years in prison. Ricky L. Bryant, 53, a part-time accountant at Blind Renaissance Design in East Wenatchee from 2004 to spring 2011, wrote checks to himself from the business and altered the books to cover it up. His legitimate take-home pay amounted to no more than $9,000 a year, but he cashed 70 unauthorized checks to steal an average of about $20,700 per year from the small business. His biggest haul was in 2007, when he took more than $30,000.
Defense: Wolf-poaching evidence was wrongfully seized
SPOKANE — The Twisp-area ranch family accused of poaching endangered gray wolves from the Lookout Pack says evidence in the federal case was gathered without proper warrants. William D. White, his son Tom D. White and daughter-in-law Erin White have all pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court to a total of 12 federal charges — including conspiracy to kill and unlawfully taking an endangered species, as well as smuggling and illegal import and export of wildlife. They were indicted June 7 after authorities said the family poached two wolves and attempted to ship parts of the animals out of the country.
Nine-year sentence in online abuse case
WATERVILLE — An East Wenatchee child molester was sentenced Monday to nine years in state prison, and faces further federal time if convicted of streaming his offenses across the Internet. Scott James Martin, 48, was arrested in August 2010 after federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and Douglas County sheriff’s detectives tracked video files from the hard drive of a North Dakota man back to Martin’s IP address. They accused Martin of transmitting at least five videos which showed him molesting a 7-year-old girl to an online collector of child pornography.
Police: Rape victim forced to withdraw charges
WATERVILLE — A Wenatchee man faces charges of burglary, rape and unlawful imprisonment after police accused him of terrorizing his former girlfriend and forcing her to withdraw a restraining order.
Neck-and-neck elections yield narrow wins
WENATCHEE — The two closest NCW elections remained close — with margins of fewer than 10 votes — as results were finalized by county auditors Tuesday afternoon. Elizabeth Juarez de Lopez took a seat on the Lake Chelan School District Board by a nine-vote margin. The district yielded 898 votes for Juarez de Lopez and 889 for opponent Jeff Fehr.
The Database
In the Mackenzie Cowell murder case, Homeland Security displays its ever-growing cache of personal info
In the Mackenzie Cowell murder case, Homeland Security displays its ever-growing cache of personal info.
Murder trial for Wilson pushed to March
WENATCHEE — The murder trial of Christopher Scott Wilson will be delayed until March 19 while defense investigators review the case. Wilson, charged with first-degree murder in the February 2010 killing of Wenatchee High School student Mackenzie Cowell, has been jailed since his arrest eight months after her death. His trial was due to begin Jan. 31.
The Hidden Hand
In local police investigations, Homeland Security takes an unexpected role
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security — locally represented by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — has become a subtle presence in NCW law enforcement. In recent cases brought to Chelan and Douglas county courts by city police and county sheriffs, ICE agents have relayed evidence, performed background checks, and questioned U.S. citizens not accused of any crime.
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