NorthwestMarch 5, 2014

Associated Press

Ex-Washington employee sentenced for hiring hit-man to kill wife

OLYMPIA - A 44-year-old Olympia man convicted of trying to hire a hit-man to kill his wife was sentenced Tuesday to 33 years in prison.

Brian Cox also was convicted of a second count of solicitation to commit murder for offering money to a cellmate in the Thurston County Jail to kill an informant in the first case.

The informant was a co-worker at the state Department of Financial Institutions who wore a police wire last year to record conversations in which Cox offered him money to find someone who could make his wife "disappear." They were involved in a divorce.

The Olympian reported Cox spoke briefly in court about the good he has done, such as protecting consumers in his job.

His wife said she still fears for her safety.

Nampa woman pleads guilty to killing boyfriend

NAMPA - A 34-year-old Nampa woman has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for the October stabbing death of her boyfriend during an argument.

The Idaho Press-Tribune reported Susana Cordoba Quijano also pleaded guilty to use of a deadly weapon in the Oct. 12 death of Santiago Delgato Pineda. He died of a single stab wound to the heart.

Quijano was arrested the next day. She was initially charged with second-degree murder.

Court records say Quijano told investigators she stabbed Pineda because she suspected he was seeing another woman.

Sentencing is set for April 22 before District Judge Juneal Kerrick.

Inmates sue Twin Falls jail over care

TWIN FALLS - Two inmates are suing the Twin Falls County jail, saying they have not received adequate mental health care.

The Times-News reported Chad Allen English and Ronnie Manuel Preal filed a complaint in federal court on Feb. 25.

English said he was denied his psychiatric medication for three months and placed in solitary confinement when staff mistakenly believed he was suicidal. He said Preal was put in solitary and at one point made to strip naked because jail staff believed he was suicidal.

English and Preal have also filed a related lawsuit against the jail's consulting psychiatrist, while English has a separate lawsuit that names the psychiatrist and the jail nurse. Those lawsuits also allege poor mental health care.

County Prosecutor Grant Loebs said Tuesday the claims have been turned over to the county's insurance carrier.

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Break-in reported at Kalispell abortion clinic

KALISPELL, Mont. - Police in Kalispell are investigating a break-in and vandalism at a clinic where abortions are performed.

Physician assistant Susan Cahill said someone broke the window in a back door at All Families Healthcare and caused significant damage, which was discovered when a receptionist arrived at work at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Cahill said the clinic had just moved into a new office space in early February.

Police declined to comment, other than to say the vandalism was extensive.

Cahill said she's angry that people are trying to prevent her from performing a legal procedure she believes is a human right.

Cahill's clinic in a previous Kalispell location was targeted by a firebomb in October 1994.

Officials identify woman killed after car hit horse

BOISE - Ada County officials have released the name of a 43-year-old Emmett woman who died after her car struck a horse on Idaho Highway 16 northwest of Boise.

Coroner Erin Sonnenberg said Alma Sanchez died Monday morning of a head injury. He said her car was eastbound at about 5 a.m. when it struck a horse, veered off the road, through a fence and into a field. It crashed through another section of barbed-wire fence and went over a dirt driveway before hitting a rock wall.

Two passengers in her car were taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries.

Another vehicle hit the horse's carcass in the road, causing the car to flip over. One of the two people in that car was injured.

Coeur d'Alene man sentenced to 25 years for child abuse

COEUR D'ALENE - A Coeur d'Alene man will spend at least 25 years in prison for sexually abusing two children.

The Spokesman-Review reported that 32-year-old Justin Shawn Wheeler was sentenced Monday in Kootenai County District Court.

First District Judge Fred Gibler cited Wheeler's "ongoing predatory conduct" in handing down a sentence that could potentially keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.

Wheeler pleaded guilty last October to two counts of lewd and lascivious conduct and sexual battery of a minor younger than 16.

Associated Press

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