Man sentenced to life in prison for 2017 hate crime

A Spokane man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Monday for the 2017 racially charged assault.

Jurors convicted Donald Prichard earlier this month of burglary, malicious harassment, and four counts of assault with a deadly weapon in the second degree.

Prichard and co-defendant, Jason Edward Cooper, punched Norris Cooley in the head and shoved a handgun in his face.

“He said, ‘I feel like shooting a (N-word) today,’ ” Cooley said of Cooper, in a 2017 interview with the Spokesman-Review. “I didn’t see that coming this time.”

Cooley has since died. Cooper pleaded guilty to multiple assault charges late last year and was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison.

Prichard had little to say at his sentencing Monday. Judge MaryAnn Moreno asked Prichard multiple times to explain how he ended up in his current situation.

“This is a big deal for me. I don’t do this everyday,” said Moreno of sentencing Prichard to life in prison.

Moreno asked Prichard if something traumatic happened to him as a child and what happened to transform Prichard from a father of three to someone who would spend the rest of their life behind bars.

All Prichard replied was “poor decisions.”

Because of Prichard’s two prior strike offenses, an assault in 2011 and a domestic violence related assault in 2007, he was classified as a persistent offender.

That classification allowed for Moreno to sentence Prichard to life in prison without the possibility of parole and 116 months for illegal possession of a firearm, which he pleaded guilty to before his trial.