Teen accused of having gun while on probation

A 16-year-old boy who is to be arraigned Wednesday on a gun-possession charge is one of three persons who beat and stabbed a victim who wouldn’t give them a cigarette last spring, prosecutors allege.

The suspect, Kace A. Perry, was still on probation from the March 14 attack in Riverfront Park when a Spokane County sheriff’s deputy arrested him Nov. 4.

Deputy Jack Rosenthal was investigating what he suspected was a drug transaction near the Sunset Food Mart, 2627 W. Sunset Blvd.

Rosenthal reported seeing Perry placing what turned out to be a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol on the floor of a vehicle. The weapon had a round in the chamber, and Perry had a second, loaded magazine in his pocket, the deputy stated.

One condition of Perry’s 10-month probation was that he possess no firearms.

Perry and 14-year-old Teal N. Rutley pleaded guilty in May to attempted first-degree theft in the Riverfront Park attack. They had been charged with attempted first-degree robbery, but were allowed to plead to the reduced charge in exchange for their promise to testify against co-defendant Ramsey Alden Morin, 23.

Perry was sentenced to 30 days of detention and 56 hours of community service with credit for 41 days already served. If convicted of his new charge – second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm – Perry faces a standard maximum sentence of 30 days in detention, 150 hours of community service and a year of probation.

Since February, when he declared an address of 425 W. Mansfield Ave., Perry has claimed in court documents that he lives at the Crosswalk shelter at 525 W. Second Ave., and that his sister, Caitlin Perry, is his guardian.

Court documents say Morin, who was living at 1518 E. Pacific St., gave a videotaped confession to police on March 15, when he was arrested at a Crescent Court restaurant where he was working. Police said he told them where he discarded the folding knife he used in the stabbing and identified the weapon when they found it.

Police said a girl who said she was with the suspects at the time of the attack told them that she saw Morin stab the victim, Shane Brown, and that Morin said, “I just shanked him. I need to dip. I’m going to the Arena.”

“Shank” means stab; “dip” means run away, she explained.

Morin faces trial Dec. 11 on a charge of first-degree assault.

Deputy Prosecutor Bill Reeves, who handles juvenile cases including Perry’s, said Deputy Prosecutor Eugene Cruz wanted all the witnesses he could muster against Morin. Cruz prosecutes adults in gang cases and serious assaults.

Court records show Perry also was arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault. He allegedly was the one who asked Brown for a cigarette and, with Rutley, began beating Brown when the victim said he had no smokes.

Brown told police he ran from his attackers, but Morin gave chase and stabbed him in his lower back. A police dog tracked down Perry and Rutley in another part of the park.

Perry was convicted of third-degree malicious mischief and third-degree theft in 2003. An unrelated first-degree malicious mischief charge was dismissed that year, and charges of third-degree theft and being a minor in possession of alcohol were dropped in May this year.

In addition to his plea in May to attempted first-degree theft and second-degree escape, Rutley was convicted in July of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. A drug-possession charge was dismissed in July.