Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – James M. Reeder pleaded not guilty today in the case involving the death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter.

Six times he answered not guilty while staring at the table in front of him in Judge Richard Brosey’s courtroom in Lewis County Superior Court.

James M. Reeder

Reeder, 25, is charged with homicide by abuse, two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of first-degree child rape and possession of methamphetamine.

Koralynn Fister died May 24.

She was pronounced dead at the hospital after Reeder carried the naked and unbreathing child to neighbors across the street from her house, saying he found her face down in the bathtub.

He was watching her while the mother and her 4-year-old daughter were away from their Centralia home, according to police.

Authorities said they found numerous injuries, some in more advanced stages of healing than others. The coroner says she died from head trauma and drowning.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer has described the crime of homicide by abuse as repeated assaults or torture that ends in the death of a child. It carries the same possible penalty as murder.

Each of the charges carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, except the drug charge. Prosecutors added the aggravating circumstances of abusing a position of trust with a particularly vulnerable victim.

Reeder’s arraignment was delayed because he was sent to Western State Hospital to be evaluated to determine if he was competent  to stand trial and assist his lawyer in their defense.

The Centralia resident who worked as a flooring installer until about a year ago was separated from his wife and living with Koralynn’s mother. He has no felony criminal history.

He is expected back in court next Thursday to set a trial date.

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For background, read “Mental evaluation: Suspect in death, rape of Centralia toddler found competent for trial” from Tuesday July 10, 2012, here

The pit along Southwest 11th Street is covered by plywood today, but it was open last night.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A blind man walking to the grocery store to buy milk dropped into a brick-lined pit of an uncovered storm drain in Chehalis last night.

Police and aid called about 11:30 p.m. to the corner of Southwest 11th Street at Market Boulevard found 42-year-old Tim Franklin just pulling himself out.

Tim Franklin

He said he was stuck down there about five minutes.

“I stepped into it, went forward and smacked my head on the other side,” Franklin said.

It was only chest-deep, but one of his feet got wedged in a small pipe about halfway down, he said.

“There I was, I was yelling,” Franklin said. “Not for help, I was cussin’.”

Franklin, who uses a white cane to make his way around town, was more annoyed than he was hurt. Today however, the brim of his hat hid a purplish-red scuff mark on his forehead.

“You know, I never go on this side of the sidewalk, he said.

A woman across 11th Street who heard him and called 911 told him it’s been uncovered for about three days, he said.

“Why would they leave it this way,” he said. “I’m pissed.”

The opening – on the shoulder next to the sidewalk – is about three feet long by two feet wide. A shallow stream of water trickled across the bottom of it this afternoon.

A piece of plywood and orange cones set atop it now.

The cover that belongs over it is more like a grate, according to Chehalis Fire Department Capt. Kevin Curfman. He said he was told by the street department it keeps getting stolen.

“(They’re) gonna have to figure out how to bolt it down or something,” Curfman said.

Franklin declined to go to the hospital, a paramedic checked his neck, he said.

The Chehalis man says he’s not immune to accidents because of his lack of sight. A hereditary condition gradually took his vision until it was entirely gone at age 30, he said.

Four or five years ago he fell at Stan Hedwall Park and broke his ankle, he said.

The ankle is sore, he said today. He planned to have his doctor check it, his hip and his head, he said.

Last night, after the nice paramedic was done with him, he nixed the trip to Safeway and limped the 13 blocks back home, he said.

“They didn’t offer me a ride home,” he said.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Murder defendant Joshua Leroy Vance was acutely psychotic and responding to “command hallucinations” to kill his father early in the morning on March 7 in their Onalaska home, according to a mental evaluation conducted by a psychologist.

Joshua Vance

Defense attorney David Arcuri submitted Dr. Brett Trowbridge’s professional opinion when he filed a motion asking for an acquittal of his client based on insanity. Vance pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in early May.

Yesterday, in Lewis County Superior Court, the prosecutor’s office said now they would like their experts to examine Vance as well.

Vance, 25, is charged with first-degree murder after allegedly using a knife to attack his sleeping father, 58-year-old Terry Vance on March 7.

The younger Vance is also charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder, as he allegedly told a deputy he was going to kill his grandmother, nephew and uncle but couldn’t because he cut his hand.

He remains held in the Lewis County Jail on $1 million bail.

The Centralia College student has already been evaluated by specialists from Western State Hospital who determined he was mentally competent to stand trial, but now they will evaluate him for insanity, according to an order signed by a judge yesterday.

Vance appeared in court for the brief hearing.

According to Arcuri, the guidelines for criminal insanity look at if a person suffers from a mental disease or defect such that they could not comprehend the nature or quality of their act, and, even if they could understand, could not conform their behavior.

Trowbridge wrote in his report, which Arcuri received on June 1, an insanity defense would be appropriate because at the time of the alleged incident, with Vance’s acute mental illness he was unable to appreciate the nature and quality of his conduct.

According to the report from Western State’s previous contact with Vance, he has been hospitalized in the past for command hallucinations to kill himself and harm others. He also has been treated for substance induced hallucinations, according to the report.

His diagnosis’s in the state doctors’ report included psychotic disorder, major depression, amphetamine dependence and alcohol abuse.

Vance told the evaluator he started using methamphetamine at age 11, but had not used it for the previous two years.

Vance’s family say he was being treated for mental health issues at Cascade Mental Health in Chehalis and had gone off his medication because he couldn’t afford it.

If state doctors decide to bring him to their facility to conduct the exam, they can commit him for not more than 15 days and then as soon as is practicable furnish the court with a report on their findings, according to the court order.

Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said the two sides set a date of Aug. 2 to check in with the judge about the status of the upcoming evaluation.

A trial is scheduled for the week of Oct. 22.
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For background, read:

• “Onalaska man pleads insanity in father’s fatal stabbing” from Tuesday May 8, 2012, here

•  “Murder suspect: “When he was good, he was such a good young man”” from Friday March 9, 2012, here