Ruling shaves years off killer’s prison sentence

A former Spokane street kid who helped beat a man to death for sport in 1998 got 3 3/4 years shaved off his prison sentence Friday because of a state Supreme Court decision.

Nathanael Jacob Haux, now 22, was 16 when he and three other youths beat 44-year-old John M. Bock in an alley near Pacific Avenue and Browne Street in downtown Spokane.

One of the assailants said he and his friends had gone “bum bashing” when they attacked Bock, who was drunk at the time.

Bock died two days later of a massive head injury.

Haux confessed to Spokane Police Detective Chet Gilmore that he participated in the attack “just so my reputation didn’t drop.” Despite the confession, Haux insisted at the time, and again Friday, that he was innocent of Bock’s death.

While two co-defendants pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in plea bargains, Haux refused the deal, went to trial, and was convicted of second-degree “felony murder.” His conviction was based on a law that says it is murder if a victim dies in the course of some other felony.

The state Supreme Court ruled in October 2002 that the law had been defective since 1975. The Supreme Court said the Legislature didn’t intend for second- and third-degree assault to serve as a basis for second-degree murder convictions. The Legislature quickly disagreed by passing emergency legislation, but the high court refused to reconsider.

Last November, the court added that its October 2002 ruling was retroactive. That erased scores of convictions throughout the state, including Haux’s. His was one of the first of some two dozen Spokane County cases in which prosecutors are seeking new convictions, often with reduced charges.

Haux was sentenced to a 101/4-year prison term in March 2000, and Deputy Prosecutor Rachel Sterett recommended a 61/2-year term Friday in a deal that means Haux may soon be released from the Airway Heights Corrections Center.

In February 2000, two of Haux’s accomplices, Isaiah L. Ridley, then 20, and James P. Sweeney, then 18, were sentenced to 71/2 years and 10 years in prison, respectively. They pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, and Ridley was given credit for cooperating with authorities.

They were caught after bragging to a confidential informer at a home frequented by street kids. A fourth suspect was never identified.

Although Ridley and Sweeney later pleaded guilty, they denied any knowledge of the homicide when Gilmore found them hanging out at the Spokane Transit Authority’s downtown Plaza bus depot days after Bock died.

Court records indicate Sweeney initiated the attack on Bock, smashing him in the back of his head with a beer bottle. Haux confessed to kicking Bock in the ribs.

According to court documents, Haux said he was armed with a “smiley” when he kicked Bock. A smiley is a street weapon consisting of a padlock on a chain.

Haux told Gilmore that he didn’t know the attack was fatal until he read a newspaper account of Bock’s death.