Man pleads guilty in Airway Heights baseball-bat beating death

A 20-year-old defendant implicated in the 2017 baseball-bat beating death of an Airway Heights resident pleaded guilty earlier this month to manslaughter.

Christian J. Palmer was sentenced to 24 months in state prison after pleading to second-degree manslaughter. He’s been in custody since late August 2017, when Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies say he and Brandon Pierce, also 20, killed 53-year-old Terry Toner after a late-night house party turned violent.

Pierce is scheduled to go to trial Dec. 4.

At Palmer’s sentencing hearing Nov. 13, Superior Court Judge Maryann Moreno heard from several family members, many of whom wrote a letter. Among those was Elizabeth Palmer, the defendant’s mother, who described him as a “bright, loving and kind young man with his whole future ahead of him.”

“The past fifteen months have been a learning experience for Christian,” she wrote. “I have no doubt that he will conduct his life in a positive way going forward.”

Palmer was previously charged with second-degree murder. The charge was downgraded as a part of a plea agreement.

Charging documents for the defendants describe a fight that broke out because the two began arguing over a girl. Sometime after 2 a.m. on Aug. 25, 2017, Palmer and Pierce began arguing and the fight spilled into a breezeway at an apartment complex at 10913 W. Sixth Ave.

Records say Toner tried to intervene but was beaten to death with the bat and a flurry of kicks in the ensuing melee.

Palmer, who also received injuries during the brawl, was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center for wounds to his head and face. He was arrested after his release from the hospital.

Records filed by Palmer’s attorney, Bevan Maxey, dispute the state’s narrative. Instead, the defendants described Toner as the aggressor when he drunkenly confronted the two men and several other partygoers with a bat. Records say the man punched Pierce and knocked him to the ground earlier that night.

Several witnesses say Toner “immediately began recklessly swinging the bat and screaming at the guests and residents,” according to records. He then struck several partygoers with the bat, including Palmer.

Moments later, a fight broke out involving Pierce, Palmer and Toner. Records indicate several witnesses observed all three men in the brawl, and a video was taken, though it’s unclear what specifically was captured.