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Machine-gun case ends with plea bargains
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Machine-gun case ends with plea bargains
Former law officers plead guilty to shooting Suncrest homes
John Craig
Staff writer
COLVILLE _ A former Stevens County sheriff's deputy and a former Newport reserve police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to shooting two Suncrest homes with a submachine gun.
Fired Deputy Will Clark and his onetime Suncrest roommate, former Newport police reservist Christopher Spurlock, accepted plea bargains from Prosecutor Jerry Wetle to reduce their potential jail sentences.
Stevens County Superior Court Judge Larry Kristianson sentenced Clark to nine months and Spurlock to 30 days. They are to report to the county jail early next month unless they are able to arrange work-release, for which both are eligible.
Kristianson also ordered Clark and Spurlock to pay $1,967 in restitution to their neighbors.
Clark, 29, pleaded guilty as charged to illegal possession of a machine gun, which is a felony, and to reckless endangerment and obstructing law enforcement officers.
Spurlock, 27, had been charged with illegal possession of a machine gun and obstructing law enforcement officers. But the possession charge was dismissed because the gun belonged to Clark, and a charge of illegally discharging a firearm was substituted in the plea bargain.
Unlike Clark and two other defendants, Spurlock was not accused of firing the 9mm Steyr submachine gun that sprayed bullets into two Suncrest homes about 2:20 a.m. on April 16. But he admitted firing the weapon later at a gravel pit.
Wetle said the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is still investigating how Clark obtained the weapon. That investigation could result in additional charges, he said.
One of the bullets in the residential shooting penetrated two walls and lodged in a stack of books about 5 feet from a sleeping man.
Clark, Spurlock and two guests in their rented Suncrest home had been drinking when some of them decided to fire the illegal weapon from the deck behind the house.
The guests, 24-year-old Brian Cravens of Nine Mile Falls, and his brother, Jeffrey Cravens, 22, a Utah resident, pleaded guilty in June and July to illegal discharge of a firearm.
Kristianson sentenced Jeffrey Cravens to 30 days in jail, to start Oct. 21, and Brian Cravens to 120 hours of community service and a $1,000 fine.
Brian Cravens had been an unpaid Stevens County reserve deputy, but was fired along with Clark. Spurlock was dismissed from his unpaid position with the Newport Police Department, and resigned his job as a corrections officer at the Airway Heights Corrections Center.
One of the victims, David Granlund, had been a Stevens County reserve deputy for five years. Granlund and his wife, Shannon, and neighbor Diana Brink said they were awakened by three bursts of automatic gunfire.
One of the estimated 50 bullets passed through two walls and a decorative indoor birdhouse before lodging in a stack of books 5 feet away from the Granlunds' 22-year-old sleeping son, Kristopher.
Another bullet passed through a fence and part of the Granlunds' deck, and a third round shattered a canopy window of David and Diana Brink's pickup before ricocheting into their garage door.
An investigation showed Clark and Spurlock attempted to mislead investigators. First, they attempted to convince deputies who responded to the shooting that the perpetrators had left the area and that the shots were not from a machine gun. Clark called the sheriff's office to report the shots himself, claiming it was hard to tell where they came from because of echoes.
"No way" were the shots from a fully automatic weapon as neighbors reported, Clark told Sgt. Dean Westerman while holding a beer.
Spurlock and Clark both claimed they heard a car speed past their house at the time of the shooting.
When ballistics experts traced the bullets to their home, Spurlock and Clark tried to convince detectives that the shots came from a legal handgun. But a ballistics expert determined the bullets couldn't have come from the Glock handgun Spurlock said was used.
Only then did Clark admit using a commando-style submachine gun with a 30-round magazine.
Spurlock later admitted to investigators that, after the backyard shooting session in which he said he didn't participate, all four defendants went to nearby gravel pit on state land and fired the illegal weapon.
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=082902&ID=s1207624
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Former law officers plead guilty to shooting Suncrest homes
John Craig
Staff writer
COLVILLE _ A former Stevens County sheriff's deputy and a former Newport reserve police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to shooting two Suncrest homes with a submachine gun.
Fired Deputy Will Clark and his onetime Suncrest roommate, former Newport police reservist Christopher Spurlock, accepted plea bargains from Prosecutor Jerry Wetle to reduce their potential jail sentences.
Stevens County Superior Court Judge Larry Kristianson sentenced Clark to nine months and Spurlock to 30 days. They are to report to the county jail early next month unless they are able to arrange work-release, for which both are eligible.
Kristianson also ordered Clark and Spurlock to pay $1,967 in restitution to their neighbors.
Clark, 29, pleaded guilty as charged to illegal possession of a machine gun, which is a felony, and to reckless endangerment and obstructing law enforcement officers.
Spurlock, 27, had been charged with illegal possession of a machine gun and obstructing law enforcement officers. But the possession charge was dismissed because the gun belonged to Clark, and a charge of illegally discharging a firearm was substituted in the plea bargain.
Unlike Clark and two other defendants, Spurlock was not accused of firing the 9mm Steyr submachine gun that sprayed bullets into two Suncrest homes about 2:20 a.m. on April 16. But he admitted firing the weapon later at a gravel pit.
Wetle said the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is still investigating how Clark obtained the weapon. That investigation could result in additional charges, he said.
One of the bullets in the residential shooting penetrated two walls and lodged in a stack of books about 5 feet from a sleeping man.
Clark, Spurlock and two guests in their rented Suncrest home had been drinking when some of them decided to fire the illegal weapon from the deck behind the house.
The guests, 24-year-old Brian Cravens of Nine Mile Falls, and his brother, Jeffrey Cravens, 22, a Utah resident, pleaded guilty in June and July to illegal discharge of a firearm.
Kristianson sentenced Jeffrey Cravens to 30 days in jail, to start Oct. 21, and Brian Cravens to 120 hours of community service and a $1,000 fine.
Brian Cravens had been an unpaid Stevens County reserve deputy, but was fired along with Clark. Spurlock was dismissed from his unpaid position with the Newport Police Department, and resigned his job as a corrections officer at the Airway Heights Corrections Center.
One of the victims, David Granlund, had been a Stevens County reserve deputy for five years. Granlund and his wife, Shannon, and neighbor Diana Brink said they were awakened by three bursts of automatic gunfire.
One of the estimated 50 bullets passed through two walls and a decorative indoor birdhouse before lodging in a stack of books 5 feet away from the Granlunds' 22-year-old sleeping son, Kristopher.
Another bullet passed through a fence and part of the Granlunds' deck, and a third round shattered a canopy window of David and Diana Brink's pickup before ricocheting into their garage door.
An investigation showed Clark and Spurlock attempted to mislead investigators. First, they attempted to convince deputies who responded to the shooting that the perpetrators had left the area and that the shots were not from a machine gun. Clark called the sheriff's office to report the shots himself, claiming it was hard to tell where they came from because of echoes.
"No way" were the shots from a fully automatic weapon as neighbors reported, Clark told Sgt. Dean Westerman while holding a beer.
Spurlock and Clark both claimed they heard a car speed past their house at the time of the shooting.
When ballistics experts traced the bullets to their home, Spurlock and Clark tried to convince detectives that the shots came from a legal handgun. But a ballistics expert determined the bullets couldn't have come from the Glock handgun Spurlock said was used.
Only then did Clark admit using a commando-style submachine gun with a 30-round magazine.
Spurlock later admitted to investigators that, after the backyard shooting session in which he said he didn't participate, all four defendants went to nearby gravel pit on state land and fired the illegal weapon.
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=082902&ID=s1207624
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - An internal probe by the police department into the shooting of an unarmed black man by a white officer is inconclusive because the former policeman refused to meet with investigators, the police chief said Thursday.
"Internal Affairs investigators are unable to arrive at any conclusive determination of why the shooting occurred," Chief Don Carey said.
Officer Jerad Kruse shot George Bibins on July 19, 2000, only seconds after the stolen vehicle Bibins was driving crashed during a high-speed chase.
Kruse later told investigators he fired his weapon after Bibins moved his hands in an upward motion, and the officer believed he was holding a gun.
The focus of the police investigation was to determine whether Kruse followed police procedure, which states officers can use firearms to defend themselves from what is reasonably believed to be an immediate threat of death or serious * injury.
"The department is unable to determine whether Officer Kruse did or did not see movement by Mr. Bibins that would reasonably cause him to believe there was an imminent threat," Carey said.
Kruse was not obligated to talk to the internal investigators because he is no longer an employee of the police department, said his attorney, Mike Fabian.
Kruse sought and received early retirement last year, saying he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder because of the shooting. He has a pension worth about $31,000 annually.
The day after the shooting, Kruse went through an exhaustive interview process with homicide detectives, Fabian said.
"He answered every question imaginable," Fabian said. "Having done that, I advised internal affairs people to obtain the transcript of that interview."
However, it was that interview - in which Kruse gave conflicting accounts about whether Bibins had a gun - that caused initial concern for Carey.
"At one point during the interview, Officer Kruse indicated that he definitely recognized a gun," Carey said. "Upon further questioning, Officer Kruse indicated he believed the man had a gun and was raising it."
Investigating officers only found a screwdriver in the vehicle Bibins was driving.
Carey asked Douglas County Attorney Jim Jansen to review the shooting, and Jansen charged Kruse with manslaughter. The charge was thrown out by a judge because it was filed before a grand jury considered the case. That grand jury later cleared Kruse.
Jansen later requested to see the transcripts from the grand jury to decide whether he would again charge Kruse.
The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled in May that the Douglas County prosecutor could not gain access to grand jury testimony when no indictment had been issued. Jansen decided against charging Kruse a second time.
When Jansen announced his decision, both the internal police probe and an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department were launched.
The FBI investigated the shooting shortly after it happened and sent its findings to the Justice Department's civil rights division, U.S. Attorney Mike Heavican said.
The department's policy is to wait for local prosecutions before reviewing the FBI documentation.
The Bibins family has filed a federal civil lawsuit against Kruse, Carey and the city of Omaha.
It claims Kruse violated Bibins' constitutional rights by the use of excessive force, which was condoned by the police department.
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On the Net:
U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crt-home.html
Omaha Police Department: http://www.opd.ci.omaha.ne.us/
http://www.journalstar.com/latest_reg.php?story_id=18714
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878