Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The death of a 54-year-old Lewis County man at Stafford Creek Corrections Center near Aberdeen this week appears to be a suicide, according to a spokesperson for the prison.

Daniel W. Johnson was found dead in his cell Wednesday morning with a plastic bag over his head, prison officials said.

Johnson began his prison sentence in 1993 after he was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder in Lewis County.

He was arrested in December 1991 after a man and a woman were found stabbed to death in a home on Elk Creek Road near Doty. The victims were the resident, Paul Pilz, and his friend Eleanor Warden.

Johnson, then 34, had grown up in the area, and stayed the night at the home after his truck became stuck in the mud a few miles away, according to court documents.

He had just been released from psychiatric treatment days earlier, and had a five-year psychiatric history, according to court documents.

Johnson was serving a 27-year sentence and had been at Stafford Creek since May 2010 when he was transferred from McNeil Island Corrections Center, according to the state Department of Corrections. He was living in a minimum security unit.

Prison spokesperson Sheri Izatt said Johnson was scheduled for release in March 2015 and hadn’t committed a serious infraction since 1994.

Preliminarily, the death appears to be suicide, Izatt said.

The Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office is investigating his death. The prison is conducting a separate investigation.

The Grays Harbor County Coroner’s Office said a determination of the cause and manner of Johnson’s death is pending toxicology results.

An autopsy was conducted yesterday and nothing suspicious was found, Deputy Coroner George Patrick said.

Court records from 1993 say Johnson was a father of two children and divorced.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Former Salkum-area Fire Chief Phillip McDaniel today lost his lawsuit claiming wrongful termination.

Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt signed an order this morning granting Lewis County Fire District 8’s motion to dismiss the case.

McDaniel was fired in August 2009 after almost three years as the paid chief for the volunteer department, following about 17 years of working in the same capacity as a volunteer.

His attorney contended a new trio of fire commissioners decided they wanted to go back to having a volunteer chief and terminated McDaniel without cause, even though his contract was still in effect.

Seattle lawyer Jon Rosen told the judge in a hearing this morning the criticisms only began after Sharon DeBuhr was elected to the board of commissioners.

“In fact, that’s what occurred,” Rosen said. “Mrs. DeBuhr’s husband became the volunteer chief.”

The lawyer for the fire district told Judge Hunt there really was no dispute McDaniel was fired for cause.

Seattle attorney Stephanie R. Alexander noted instances of personal work on the department computer and that McDaniel refused to turn over the password to the computer when asked by one of the commissioners.

Rosen said these were issues for a jury to decide, but the judge disagreed.

Hunt, when he announced his decision, said the insubordination related to the password stood on it own as a reason for the firing.

McDaniel was in the Chehalis courtroom today, but had no comment.

Fire District 8 operates with some 50 volunteer members and protects about 200 square miles in middle Lewis County. It’s annual operating budget is about $400,000.

McDaniels’s case was filed in Lewis County Superior Court in January of last year, and moved to U.S. District Court, until it was remanded back to Lewis County three months ago.

It initially included complaints for breach of contract, defamation and a civil rights violation as well.

Volunteer Fire Chief Dave DeBuhr has been replaced with Mayfield Village resident George Penzenik.

Michael Anthony Lar is shown his seat in Lewis County Superior Court this morning.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Defense attorney Don Blair asked a judge today to suppress evidence against accused bank robber Michael Anthony Lar, contending police made an illegal arrest of Lar in January 2010.

Lar is currently serving a sentence of life in prison without any possibility of release following his conviction for the attempted robbery of Twin Star Credit Union in Centralia on January 25 of last year.

While he was being held in the Lewis County Jail and on trial, police got DNA samples they say matched material found on duct tape from an unsolved similar robbery at the same financial institution in January 2009.

The 58-year-old is awaiting trial on the 2009 robbery.

Blair told Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler today his motion to suppress evidence stems from the arrest in the 2010 case, and an expected decision this fall on Lar’s appeal of that conviction could settle the issue.

The judge did not make any decision today on the motion.

Employees arriving for work at Twin Star Credit Union on South Gold Street early on Jan. 25, 2010 found a man inside, who held one of them briefly, until an arriving Centralia police officer pulled her out a door to safety and fired two shots at the man inside the bank.

Officers set up containment around the building and entered several hours later to find nobody inside.

About 9:45 p.m. that night, according to Blair’s motion, Olympia police were advised of a suspicious person waiting for a cab at a downtown hotel; Lar was taken by a taxi but pulled over about two blocks away.

Blair goes on to write: Lar was ordered out of the vehicle at gunpoint and ordered to lay face down on the ground. Arriving Centralia police officers immediately ordered Olympia officers to arrest him.

“At the time Mr. Lar was arrested, he had not even been rolled over from where he was laying,” Blair wrote.

Lar was taken to the Olympia Police Department where he was searched and photographed, according to Blair.

Charging documents in the case describe a Centralia police officer who waited in the hospital room with Lar at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, and then interviewed him.

Blair writes the the burden is on prosecutors to prove the warrantless seizure and arrest was justified under one of the exceptions to the warrant requirement.

Lar’s trial is currently scheduled for the week of Nov. 28.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer today said even though Lar was sentenced to life under the three strikes law for the 2010 case, his office finds it necessary to pursue charges in the 2009 robbery.

That’s because it’s potentially possible Lar could be successful in his current appeal, Meyer said.
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Read background on the two cases, here