Woman gets 30 years in prison for killing apartment owner, blinding man in 2017 lower South Hill shooting

A 27-year-old woman who shot and killed an apartment owner and blinded the complex’s manager almost four years ago on Spokane’s lower South Hill will spend 30 years in prison.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Maryann Moreno followed the joint sentencing recommendation for Anne Carpenter, who wore a gray Spokane County Jail jumpsuit during Friday’s sentencing.

Carpenter pleaded guilty Oct. 29 to first-degree murder and second-degree assault.

“I’m really tired of gun violence, and we really got to do something about it,” Moreno said.

Carpenter, who is schizophrenic, killed 59-year-old Danette Kane, owner of the Westview Manor apartment complex, and shot the complex’s manager Michael Troy, who is now blind, on Dec. 19, 2017.

She was arrested days later armed with a 9 mm handgun after a citywide police search located her near the NorthTown Mall.

Troy stood and addressed the court from an audience bench Friday.

He briefly recapped the shooting, saying Carpenter fired two bullets into his head and left him to bleed on the street, permanently blinding him. Carpenter then shot and killed Kane before fleeing.

“Without a lot of detail, it’s pretty horrific,” Troy said.

He said the past four years have been extremely strenuous on the victims’ families and friends, as well as community members.

“I’ve got (forgiveness) working in my heart right now, and I hope it brings me some peace,” Troy said.

Troy told reporters after Friday’s court proceedings that he feels peace.

Corey McGreevey, Kane’s brother-in-law, told the court the void he and other family members face without Kane in their lives is “simply unexplainable.”

“We will never understand why anyone would kill this innocent, law-abiding, kind and loving woman,” McGreevey said.

Retired Spokane County Superior Court Judge Jerome Leveque, a longtime family friend of the Kanes who spoke on their behalf, asked Moreno to sentence Carpenter to 34 years – the maximum sentence under the plea agreement.

The mandatory minimum sentence for first-degree murder is 20 years. The maximum penalty for first-degree murder is life in prison and the maximum penalty for second-degree assault is 10 years in prison.

“I have a deep respect for the court and for Judge Moreno,” Leveque said after the sentencing. “I’m bitterly disappointed.”

A doctor in early 2018 diagnosed Carpenter with paranoid schizophrenia and determined she was “not competent to stand trial.”

According to the doctor’s report, Carpenter was diagnosed as schizophrenic in 2013 when she was living with her mother on Oahu, Hawaii. She was prescribed medication but she refused to take it, her mother told detectives.

Jeremy Schmidt, Carpenter’s attorney, said Oct. 29 that Carpenter has been meeting with mental health providers and that her competency to understand the legal aspects of the case was restored in 2019.

Because of her condition, Schmidt said Friday that Carpenter believed her ex-boyfriend was trying to kill her, and that delusions told her that her father was conspiring with her ex to harm her. Those voices in her head led to the shooting, Schmidt said.

Court documents from the shooting indicated a different potential motive: Carpenter worried Troy was trying to evict her father who lived at the apartment complex. Witnesses said she was wandering around there asking for Troy before shooting him and then Kane.

He said schizophrenia is “beyond her control,” and that she feels safer in jail. Carpenter has no prior felony convictions.

Moreno said Carpenter is “significantly mentally ill.”

“It explains why this senseless act of violence happened,” she said.

Carpenter declined to address the court.

“She does feel sorry; she feels horrible,” Schmidt said.

The Carpenter and Kane families attended the sentencing. Some watched via Zoom.

“I feel the enormous love that you have for the individuals involved in this,” Moreno said.

She apologized to Troy and the Kane family for what they’ve been through.

“She sounds like a wonderful woman,” Moreno said of Kane. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”