Missing 3-year-old found at border
A 3-year-old girl not seen since her father picked her up at a North Side day care was found safe Thursday at the Mexican border, Texas police confirmed.
The girl was being driven into the United States at Laredo, Texas, by her father, Shawn C. Rainey, when they were stopped by U.S. Customs officials, said Lt. Orlando Martinez, of the Laredo Police Department.
Lilly Anna Rainey was placed with a foster family until relatives could pick her up, Martinez said. Her mother, Kimberly Rainey, reportedly flew to Texas to get the girl on Thursday.
Shawn Rainey, 31, was booked into the Webb County Jail on charges including kidnapping and stalking, Martinez said.
Shawn Rainey had legal visitation with the girl on March 9, Spokane Police have previously reported.
Kimberly Rainey called police when her ex-husband and daughter didn’t return that night. She later found a “Sold” sign on Shawn Rainey’s home. It appeared that he had already moved and did not report for work Wednesday.
Spokane police had speculated that Shawn Rainey might have fled with his daughter to Portland, the Southwest or Mexico.
Jury deadlocks in rap-video shooting
A Spokane County Superior Court jury deadlocked Thursday in the first-degree manslaughter trial of a 21-year-old man who shot a friend to death while fiddling with a loaded gun.
Deputy Prosecutor Matt Duggan said he will take Kevin Terrell Culp to trial again on May 23.
Duggan and Assistant Public Defender Richard Mathisen agreed that the jury, which split 8-4 in favor of acquittal, struggled with the question of what a “reasonable” person would have done.
To convict Culp, the jury had to find that his actions last April were a “gross deviation” from what was reasonable.
Culp was accused of recklessly killing 18-year-old Spokane Valley resident Cedric R. Sykes with a .357-caliber Magnum revolver. The handgun was one of two that Culp, Sykes and two other young men had used to film a rap music video.
Court documents say Sykes photographed Culp performing with 18-year-old rappers Dante Lamar Williams and Weldon Marshall Holloway, at St. Joseph’s Cemetery, 17825 E. Trent. The men got into a vehicle afterward, with Sykes in the driver’s seat and Culp on the right side of the back seat.
According to sheriff’s deputies, Holloway put the guns on the back seat while he removed a bullet-proof vest, and Culp picked up the revolver. Culp cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger, shooting Sykes in the back of the neck.
Culp testified at his trial that he was jostled, and the shooting was an accident. He said he wasn’t familiar with firearms and didn’t know the gun might fire.
Man pleads guilty to drug charges
A Spokane man who pleaded guilty to reduced charges in a kidnapping and assault case pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to possess a controlled substance.
Depriest Lamont Williams, 31, was sentenced Wednesday to the 31 days he had already served in the drug case. Spokane County Superior Court Judge Tari Eitzen ordered Williams to get a substance-abuse evaluation and treatment, if necessary, and to complete mental health treatment as directed.
Williams pleaded guilty last month to riot in a case in which he and co-defendant Daniel “Rocket” Coward, 28, had been charged with first-degree kidnapping, second-degree assault and first-degree promoting prostitution. Superior Court Judge Robert Austin sentenced Williams to 51 days in that case.
All charges against Coward were dismissed earlier this month.
Coward and Williams had been accused of taking a 17-year-old girl to a downtown motel last September, pistol-whipping her and forcing her to engage in prostitution to repay a drug debt.
Police said the girl told them Williams and Coward took about $220 in cash from her, tried to take her car, and forced her to commit three acts of prostitution. She said she eventually used a ruse to escape.
According to court documents, the girl subsequently left town with her boyfriend and couldn’t be located.