NORTHWESTNORTHWESTFRIDAY, January 4, 2019

Contact Northwest Editor John Stucke at: (509) 459-5419; fax (509) 459-5482; Johnst@spokesman.com

Spokane’s commissioner ofpublic safety John H. Tilsley laidout the case against H.M.Delaney – and now it was up thecounty prosecutor to make adecision about charges.

Tilsley’s typewritten reportcontained these points:

● Delaney tried hard to winover Rosie Kempf, but she wasalready engaged to U.S. Navysailor Karl Reiniger. She refusedto take Delaney seriously, andhad plans to marry Reiniger on

Jan. 2.● Delaney forged a letter with

her signature, intended to “makethe dead girl’s family believe thatshe cared for him.”

● Delaney purchased a box ofcandy and gave it to Kempf. Itwas believed to be laced withstrychnine.

● Delaney threw the box intothe wood stove after her death.Later, he produced another boxof candy, uncontaminated, whichhe claimed was the original box.

● A man fitting Delaney’sdescription tried to purchase astomach pump after her death,but before her autopsy. Delaney,who had training as anundertaker, may have intended topump her stomach and removethe evidence of poisoning.

Tilsley said Delaney knew thather sailor fiance was coming toSpokane for the wedding, and “itis our theory that rather than seethe sailor win, Delaney put thegirl out of the way.”

JIM KERSHNER’S 100 YEARS AGO TODAY

Spokane County is adopting anew computer algorithm designedto help judges decide which de-fendants should remain in jail,abandoning a more costly, custom-developed program that was ham-pered by technical and logisticalproblems.

The Spokane Assessment forEvaluation of Risk, known as theSAFER tool, was touted as a cor-nerstone of local efforts to reducejail overcrowding and eliminate ra-cial disparities in the justice sys-tem.

Developed with help from acriminologist at Washington StateUniversity, the tool examinedsome 30 factors – such as criminal

records, drug addiction and em-ployment history – to produce ascore indicating the likelihood adefendant would miss a court dateor commit a new crime if releasedbefore trial.

But because of staff turnover,software glitches and the challengeof syncing the tool with state courtdata, the program never worked asintended. After nearly three yearsof testing and tinkering, officialshave scrapped the SAFER tool in afavor of a simpler, off-the-shelf

program called the Public SafetyAssessment, or PSA, which will re-quire less raw information.

Maggie Yates, who recentlystepped in as Spokane County’scriminal justice administrator, saidofficials agreed they could notspend more time and resources de-veloping the SAFER tool. The PSAis more “streamlined,” she said,and will finally enable the county tostandardize how it evaluates de-fendants.

Although the size of the jail

population has not budged despiteseveral years of grant-funded re-form efforts, Yates said the new as-sessment tool could help the coun-ty stop incarcerating low-risk de-fendants only because they can’t af-ford to post bail.

What went wrongIn early 2016, shortly before Spo-

kane County was awarded a $1.75million grant from the MacArthur

COUNTY DITCHES BALKY JAILING ALGORITHM

See ALGORITHIM, 4

Opts for simpler evaluation tool

By Chad SokolTHE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

PULLMAN – Evan Hennigeralways felt drawn to Washing-ton State University.

His parents never thoughtcollege would be a possibility.Evan, 20, was diagnosed withDown syndrome shortly afterhis birth, and the prospect ofventuring away from home onhis own seemed unlikely.

That changed last year whenWSU launched a special edu-cation program for college-agestudents with educational or de-velopmental disabilities. TheHenningers’ wish for Evan sud-denly came true.

“You could have knocked usover with a feather,” Lisa Hen-niger said. “That has been ourdream since the day Evan wasborn, and we’ve been loweringour expectations to what wethought was reality (for Evan) togo to college, and then we foundout that this program could startup. It was truly a dream cometrue.”

Evan recently finished hisfirst semester at the university,taking classes and working at aninternship on campus. With thehelp of his cousin – a graduatestudent at WSU – Evan has be-come more independent thanhis parents could have im-agined.

In just a few months, the Res-ponsibility Opportunities Advo-cacy and Respect (ROAR) pro-gram has opened a multitude ofopportunities for Evan andthree other students in its inaug-ural class. The two-year pro-gram, which is operated by theCollege of Education, provideslife skills and health educationfor students, who can also auditcollege courses and work in in-ternships on campus. Partici-pants or their families pay tu-ition and fees but are eligible forfinancial aid.

Taking next step in learning

TAYLOR CODOMO/MURROW NEWS SERVICE

Evan Henniger was admitted to WSU when the university launched its Responsibility, Opportunity,Advocacy and Respect (ROAR) program, a special education program for students witheducational or developmental disabilities.

Developmentallydisabled program

opens at WSU

By Maddy Haro and Braden Johnson

FOR THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

See WSU, 2

Caleb Sharpe turns 18 in Octob-er. But in July – 22 months afterthe then 15-year-old sophomoreallegedly opened fire at FreemanHigh School – a court will decidewhether he should be tried formurder as a juvenile or adult.

The final delay in the prolongedcourt proceeding was granted in

December afterprosecutors askedfor more time asthey await one lastevaluation by Dr.Richard Adler, adefense-hired for-ensic psychiatrist.Superior Court

Judge Michael Price allowed therequest, but according to a Dec. 12filing, ordered that “this will be

the last continuance granted bythe court.”

The holdup was just one of ma-ny. In the months since the Sept.13, 2017, shooting that killed fel-low classmate Sam Strahan andleft three girls injured, the decli-nation hearing has been pushedback several times, most recentlyin October of last year. Sharpe, 17,faces one count of first-degreemurder, three counts of attempt-

ed murder and 51 counts of se-cond-degree assault relating tothe other students in the hallwayin danger of being shot.

Prosecutors originally arguedthat private defense attorney Be-van Maxey had not been timely inproviding discovery reports byAdler after an evaluation wascompleted in April. However, af-

See FREEMAN, 4

Freeman shooting suspect’s hearing delayedBy Jonathan GloverTHE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

Sharpe

Shortly before Jacob Cole-man was sentenced to 40 yearsto life for the murder of a Spo-kane cab driver, he tried to runout of a courtroom after shout-ing, “40 years, let’s do this.”

Coleman, 21, of Puyallup,Washington, pleaded guilty inNovember to stabbing and kill-ing 22-year-old GagandeepSingh as the two sat in Singh’scab in Kootenai, Idaho.

On Thursday, Bonner Coun-ty District Court Judge Barba-ra Buchanan sentenced him to40 years minimum in prison,with a maximum of a life sen-tence, according to KHQ,which also reported Cole-man’s outburst. Because Cole-man pleaded guilty, pros-ecutors took the death penaltyoff the table.

Several members of Singh’sfamily testified during thehourslong hearing, includinghis mother and brother, BaljitSingh, before Coleman stoodand addressed the court, KHQreported. The defendant apo-logized to the family, beforeasking “what do you guys wantfrom me?” to which the familysaid life in prison.

In response, he shouted forthe judge to give him 40 yearsas he slammed the micro-phone down and moved to-ward the door, according toKHQ. A bailiff stopped him be-fore he could leave and puthim into handcuffs.

Coleman, who was 19 at thetime, flew from Seattle to Spo-kane in August 2017, appar-ently to start a new semester atGonzaga University. However,upon visiting the school wherehe was not enrolled as a stu-dent nor assigned campushousing, he told law enforce-ment he became homicidal.

He then hailed a cab at theSpokane International Air-port, and told Singh to drivehim to a fictitious friend’shouse in eastern BonnerCounty. When it became clearColeman didn’t have a desti-nation, Bonner County Sher-iff’s deputies said Colemanstabbed Singh as they satparked at Spokane Street andEast Railroad Avenue in Koo-tenai.

When deputies arrived tofind Singh, who was pro-nounced dead at the scene, Co-leman was sitting in the cab.He was arrested without inci-dent.

Man whokilled

cabbie gets40 years

Defendant tries to leave courtroom;

bailiff stops him

By Jonathan GloverTHE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

NORTHWEST 2 ● FRIDAY ● JANUARY 4, 2019 THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

NORTHWEST

From casual conversation to a new program

Brenda Barrio, the program’s interimdirector and an assistant professor withthe College of Education, had long wantedto develop a special education program oncampus.

The majority of students with intellec-tual disabilities often struggle to adapt tosociety after leaving the K-12 system, Bar-rio said. Only 14 percent of individualswith intellectual disabilities are employedin the U.S., she said.

“Most of them are not able to obtainjobs because there are not enough oppor-tunities, or because they do not have theskills or training to do so,” Barrio said.

Other four-year universities across thecountry already had created similar pro-grams. Barrio believed WSU possessed theexisting infrastructure to mold a suitablecurriculum.

“With Pullman being so small, and theuniversity being so big, and having so ma-ny opportunities for internships, wethought that this was the perfect place todo something like this,” Barrio said.

Because the university was cutting bud-gets in many programs, Barrio looked todonors. It took more than a year and a halfof fundraising coupled with universitypromotions to gather enough funding tolaunch the program.

Eventually, ROAR was accredited as afederally approved Comprehensive Tran-sition Program aimed at providing stu-dents with intellectual disabilities accessto either classes on campus, housing or in-ternships. From there, Barrio got the go-

ahead from WSU.Barrio said the two main goals of the

ROAR program are to allow students tocontinue their education while living in-dependently and working toward a career.

For Evan and the three other studentsenrolled, this includes going to class, liv-ing together in designated apartment unitsand possibly participating in internships.

Barrio wants to expand ROAR’s enroll-ment to 10 students for the fall semester.

“This has honestly been one of the cool-est things that I’ve ever done in my life,”she said.

Family connection helps ease transition

The Henninger family had similar feel-ings.

Evan’s family has 15 aunts and uncles,eight cousins, three grandparents, two ol-der sisters and a mom who attended WSU.In many ways, Evan is just the next in aline of WSU students.

For Mike and Lisa Henninger, of Bel-lingham, the prospect of sending their sonacross the state was daunting. Now,months later, they say the program has al-lowed Evan to become more independentand confident.

“The other day, he said they had a leakin the toilet, so he called maintenance,” Li-sa said. “My other kids would have calledme first to figure out what to do. But Evan,he figured it out on his own.”

Shortly after Evan received his accept-ance letter, his cousin, Jayson Gibb, wasaccepted into a sports management mas-ter’s program at WSU’s College of Edu-cation. The two share a close bond. At thecenter of their relationship is a passion forWSU sports.

“Throughout the family, I could notthink of a bigger Cougars fan than Evan,”

said Gibb, a graduate assistant strengthand conditioning coach for WSU Ath-letics. “It doesn’t matter what sport wasgoing on, Evan was always updating andchecking in, making sure there was a TVaround or a radio on that we could defi-nitely listen in to.”

At the beginning of the semester, a pro-fessor reached out to Gibb, asking if heknew of any internships within the ath-letic department. A student in the ROARprogram was interested, the professorsaid. Sure enough, it was Evan.

From there, Evan worked with theWSU soccer team in various roles. He as-sisted the equipment manager in settingup pregame warm-ups, observed teamworkouts with the strength and con-ditioning coaches, and met players andcoaching staff.

The coolest part of the experience forGibb was seeing faculty members advo-cate for Evan.

“They were going out of their way tohelp Evan find an internship,” Gibb said.“They wanted to see him get an internshipwithin athletics, and they knew I was agraduate assistant within athletics. Thisopportunity just shows how community-based Washington State truly is.”

Gibb has seen Evan’s level of indepen-dence grow dramatically. At the start ofthe semester, Evan frequently messagedGibb with questions. Now, those phonecalls and text messages have steadily de-creased.

“He’s cooking for himself,” Gibb said.“Evan can eat a bunch, but he’s kind ofunderstanding (how to balance). I tellhim, ‘ OK, maybe let’s have soda once aweek.’ I always check in with him, kind ofhave a little joke going with that. But he’slearning to become very independent.”

On a Friday in late November, Evan

went to Bohler Gym to visit the athleticoffices and talk with a reporter about hisexperiences with ROAR. He had no ideathat Gibb was going to join in on the in-terview.

As Gibb walked in the door, Evan’s facelit up with a smile and he yelled, “Jayson!”Evan smiled as the two swapped storiesabout their families, reunions and sharedmemories.

One of Evan’s favorite spots on campusis Gibb Pool, named after his great uncle.Evan, who swam in the 2017 Special Olym-pics, takes a weekly swimming class. Jay-son noted that Evan is a “heck of a swim-mer.”

This semester, Evan took one sportsmanagement class – it does not count foracademic credit – and two mandatoryROAR program classes in life skills andhealth.

Evan is looking forward to taking an-other round of classes next semesterthrough the ROAR program. He expects tofinish the program in May 2020. When hedoes, he will receive a certificate providedby the U.S. Department of Education.

At the same time, Jayson will earn hismaster’s degree in sports managementeducation. The cousins will add two linksto a long line of WSU heritage when theygraduate together.

Gibb said ROAR brought him and Evan,and their entire families, closer together.Gibb and the Henningers intend to stay in-volved with the program after Evangraduates.

“To be able to have both aspects andwhat I’ve seen them do in the events I’vebeen at for these kids and families, it’ssomething I want to continue to supportthroughout the years,” Gibb said. “It’ssomething I truly believe in and I wantmore kids to have this opportunity.”

Continued from 1

WSU

An argument over rent pay-ments spiraled into violencethat left one man hospitalizedWednesday with a gunshotwound to the chest.

The suspected shooter,Joshua L. Henderson, isjailed in lieu of $100,000bond following an appear-ance Thursday in SpokaneCounty Superior Court.

The victim, Brian Gilliam,is in satisfactory condition atProvidence Sacred HeartMedical Center.

Spokane police went to6605 N. Standard St. after re-ceiving reports of gunfire.Henderson, who had beensleeping on the residence’ssofa for three weeks, is ac-cused of shooting Gilliam, theuncle of a resident at thehouse, during a disagreementabout rent, according to courtdocuments.

Gilliam pushed or punchedHenderson during the fightand Henderson responded byshooting him in the chestwith a 9 mm pistol, accordingto court documents. Gilliamtold police that Hendersonalso kicked him in the facemultiple times after he wasshot and fell to the ground.

Henderson was outside thehouse when police arrived.Officers arrested him andfound a gun on the groundnearby.

Warming firedamages house

A suspected transient start-ed a fire in an abandonedhouse Thursday in west Spo-kane, according to a fire offic-ial. No one was injured.

The fire started at about 4p.m. in the two-story house,at 3407 W. Government Way,Spokane Fire Battalion ChiefDarin Neiwert said. The en-tire house sustained smokedamage.

It’s the second time thehouse has caught fire from awarming fire from transientsin the past couple of years,Neiwert said.

“It looks like they were liv-ing in there for quite sometime,” he said.

The property is owned byRoen Properties LLC, whichbought it in 2009, accordingto county records.

Bond reduced forsuspect in killing

A man suspected of shoot-ing and killing his grand-father in December appearedin Spokane County SuperiorCourt on Thursday and re-ceived a reduction in hisbond.

Superior Court Judge Shel-ley Szambelan reducedTrystn Higgins’ bond from$500,000 to $100,000, notingthat Higgins has no job orsource of income.

Trystn Higgins, 24, alleg-edly killed Gerald Higgins atthe elder Higgins’ residencenorth of Chattaroy on Dec. 6,before fleeing in his grand-father’s car with stolen creditcards and jewelry. Police ar-rested him in downtown Spo-kane. Trystn Higgins has se-rious mental health issues,according to his defense at-torney.

From staff reports

Shooting followsfight over rent

IN BRIEF

Two more orcas are ailing andprobably will be dead by summer,according to the region’s expert onthe demographics of the criticallyendangered southern residents.

Ken Balcomb, founding directorof the Center for Whale Research,said photos taken of J17 on NewYear’s Eve showed the 42-year-old female has so-called peanuthead, a misshapen head and neckcaused by starvation. In addition,K25, a 27-year-old male, is alsofailing from lack of sufficient food.He lost his mother, K13, in 2017 andis not successfully foraging on hisown.

“I am confident we are going tolose them sometime before sum-mer,” Balcomb said.

Drone photography this pastsummer showed K25 to be notice-ably thinner, and photos taken ofhim again in this winter show noimprovement, Balcomb said.

Several whales were document-ed to be pregnant in September,but so far there has been no sign ofany babies. The southern residentshave not had a successful preg-nancy in three years.

The troubling news comes ontop of a grim year in 2018 for thesouthern residents, the J, K and Lpods of fish-eating orcas that fre-quent the Salish Sea, which in-cludes Puget Sound and the trans-boundary waters of the UnitedStates and Canada, as well as theWest Coast of the United States.

The southern resident popu-lation is at a 35-year low afterthree deaths this past year in fourmonths. There are only 74 left.

“I am going to stop counting at70,” Balcomb said. “What is thepoint?”

Losing J17 would be a blow tothe southern residents becauseshe is a female still of reproducingage, said Deborah Giles, researchscientist for University of Wash-ington Center for ConservationBiology and research director fornonprofit Wild Orca.

Giles said she was not surprisedto hear about K25. The social dy-namics of the southern residents,in which older females help theirpod, and especially their sons bysharing food, is both a blessing anda curse if that female dies, Gilessaid.

“These large, adult, hungrymales benefit by the females intheir family,” Giles said. “Thereprobably is still family foraging go-ing on, but not like he had when hismom was alive.”

As for J17, “that is the worst ofthose two, the thought of losingher, she is such an important

member for the southern residentcommunity,” Giles said.

J17 is the mother of J35, or Tah-lequah, who moved people aroundthe world when in 2018 she carriedher dead calf that lived for onlyone half-hour on her head formore than 1,000 miles over thecourse of 17 days.

The family already has beenthrough a lot.

“We have no idea what thatgrandmother went through,watching her daughter carryaround that baby as long as shedid,” Giles said. “What would thathave been like. To watch yourdaughter go through that grief andnot have much you can do aboutit.”

The same family in 2016 also lostJ54, a 1-year-old whale the wholefamily tried to support, especiallyhis sister, J46, feeding him, andlifting the baby whale up withtheir teeth every time he started tosink. “The other whales were try-ing to support him,” Balcomb said.“He had tooth rakes all over his bo-dy, but it wasn’t malicious. He wassinking.”

It is hard to confront a new yearwith two whales already failing,Giles said. “It is this anticipatorygrief. I am worried. And I amafraid.”

Drone photography taken inSeptember showed the southernresidents went into the winterthinner than they were when thewhales arrived in the San Juan Is-

lands last summer. They also arethinner than the northern resi-dents, which have been steadilygrowing in population for the past40 years in their home waters pri-marily in northern B.C. and south-east Alaska, where they have ac-cess to more fish and cleaner andquieter water. The northern resi-dents gave birth to 10 new calveslast year.

The southern residents lookparticularly thin next to the seal-eating transient, or Bigg’s, killerwhales.

“They are like marshmallows,”Balcomb said.

The coming year is not lookingany easier for the southern resi-dents in terms of their food supply.The whales mostly eat chinooksalmon.

Ocean conditions and poor rivermigration, with warm water andlow flows, have hurt chinook sal-mon returns in the past severalyears. Even Columbia River fallchinook, a bright spot by compari-son in the region, came back to theriver in such low numbers lastsummer that a rare emergencyfishing closure was enacted on theriver from the mouth all the way toPasco.

Only 186,862 fall chinook madeit back below Bonneville dam in2018, 65 percent below the 10-yearaverage. Returns over Bonnevilleof jacks, or immature chinook,which can be a reliable predictorof this year’s return, were down to

61 percent below the 10-year aver-age.

Columbia River chinook are im-portant to the whales because theyare among the biggest, fattiest fishof all. The whales also target chin-ook returning to rivers in PugetSound and, in the summer, to theFraser River. Those runs havebeen declining as well.

The whales’ behavior is chang-ing as their food sources dwindle.They are arriving later in the SanJuan Islands because the FraserRiver chinook runs they seek inthose waters have so declined. Thesouthern residents also are no lon-ger often seen in large groups, in apattern of feeding, then socializ-ing, then resting before going on toa new spot.

“They do not have enough fishto feed them. They are spread outall over. We never see them like itwas 30, 40 years ago when theywould travel and find fish, then beplayful, then rest, then travelagain, that was the pattern,” Bal-comb said.

“You don’t see them resting anymore. They have to work all thetime, every day.”

He said proposals put forwardfor the whales in the governor’s$1.1 billion budget for orca recov-ery, including a temporary ban onwhale watching of the southernresidents, don’t go far enough.

“We need bold action,” Balcombsaid. “Natural rivers and morechinook salmon.”

2 more Puget Sound orcas appear fatally ill

CENTER FOR WHALE RESEARCH

Orca J17 rolls on her side, showing the dramatic constriction in the shape of her neck, which should bea smooth line. The condition, known as peanut head, is a sign of starvation in killer whales.

By Lynda V. MapesSEATTLE TIMES

NEW ORLEANS – PresidentDonald Trump signed legislationThursday awarding former NewOrleans Saints and WashingtonState football player Steve Glea-son the Congressional Gold Me-dal, the highest civilian honorawarded by Congress.

The 41-year-old Gleason hasALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s

disease, and Con-gress sought to ho-nor him for hiswork as an advo-cate for peoplewith the paralyz-ing neuromuscu-lar disease.

Gleason is thefirst NFL player to receive a Con-gressional Gold Medal.

He became famous for blocking

a punt in 2006 on the night theSuperdome reopened after Hurri-cane Katrina. He retired from theNFL in 2008 and was diagnosedwith ALS in 2011.

He has since spearheaded ef-forts through the Team Gleasonfoundation to develop and pro-vide technology to help ALS pa-tients live longer, more fulfillinglives. Those include devices thattrack eye movements to help pa-

ralyzed people type words thatcan be transformed into speech.Gleason has used the technologyto communicate, post messageson social media, address law-makers from around the worldand give motivational speeches toathletes.

Congress last year approved theGleason Act, which providedfunding to help ALS patients getsuch devices.

WSU football standout, ALS advocate Gleasonofficially earns highest civilian honor from Congress

Associated Press

Gleason