Accomplice gets prison in killing

Whitman County Superior Court Judge David Frazier sentenced Frank Lazcano to 25 years in prison Friday afternoon for his part in the murder of Marcus Schur.

Schur was shot to death on the night of Dec. 27, 2011, outside a residence in Malden, Wash. Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy said Lazcano’s 21-year-old brother Daniel fired the shots with Frank Lazcano’s AK-47.

Tracy said Frank Lazcano, 25, was at the scene during the incident and helped his younger brother pack Schur’s body into a car trunk before dumping the body into a creek near the Hole-in-the-Ground area of Whitman County.

Last month, a jury found Lazcano guilty of first-degree murder and a misdemeanor charge of improperly disposing of a body. The verdict came about a week after a jury failed to reach a decision on whether Daniel Lazcano was guilty of the same charges.

“When two people decide to engage in a serious crime, which is a felony, and then when one of them goes ahead and kills somebody, the other one is going to be held responsible for it,” the prosecutor said.

Tracy asked for a sentence of about 28 years plus 90 days for the misdemeanor conviction.

Several of Lazcano’s friends and family members spoke before Frazier issued the sentence. They pleaded for the judge to give Lazcano a shorter sentence in light of the fact that he has two young children, one of whom was born while he was in jail.

But Frazier would have none of it.

“You, Mr. Lazcano, aren’t the only father in the world,” Frazier said. “And when I hear arguments about this man being a father and the children needing him, I think maybe the best thing we could do for these children is to keep them away from the influence of Frank Lazcano.”

Lazcano had no criminal history prior to the trial. His lawyer said he plans to appeal.