Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  With less than three weeks to go before trial, a Vader mother of three has the weekend to contemplate a plea offer in last autumn’s death of a 3-year-old boy who was part of her household.

Brenda A. Wing and her husband, both now 27, were arrested after the child died, of what has been described vaguely as ongoing abuse.

Brenda A. Wing

Danny A. Wing pleaded guilty in March to first-degree manslaughter and also to assault in a deal that is expected to send him to prison for just over 16 years, if a judge agrees.

Lawyers and Brenda Wing went before a judge today in Lewis County Superior Court, for a scheduled omnibus hearing. That’s a standard proceeding between arraignment and trial in which both sides put down on paper the agreed particulars for trial.

Lewis County Prosecutor Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead and defense attorney John Crowley told the judge they’d like to postpone the omnibus until Monday afternoon.

Both attorneys said outside the courtroom that’s to give the defendant time to consider the state’s proposal for a “resolution” to the case.

Jasper Henderling-Warner

Jasper Henderling-Warner was pronounced dead at Providence Centralia Hospital last Oct. 5 after medics were called to the home because he was unconscious.

The autopsy found abrasions, bruises and healing fractures and labeled the cause of death as chronic battered child syndrome. Jasper was suffering from skin infections that were found to be secondary to his cause of death. His 21-year-old mother had asked the couple that summer to take him for a year, while she was homeless and looking for work out of state, according to authorities.

The Wings were initially charged with homicide by abuse or, in the alternative, first-degree manslaughter, two crimes with widely different penalties. Each of the two were charged as either the principal or accomplice.

Their three children were taken into protective custody by the state.

Danny A. Wing

While in talks this week about a possible plea deal, the attorneys today continued with steps as though the trial beginning May 18 will still take place.

Halstead told the judge he amended the information to change the date of the offense from Oct. 5, to the time period between July 31 and Oct. 5.

Crowley objected, saying the drastic alteration in the charges would prejudice his client so close to trial. Judge James Lawler allowed the substitute charges.

Brenda Wing pleaded not guilty to the amended information, in her only words spoken aloud on the record.

In March, after her husband pleaded guilty, prosecutors said they expected him to cooperate, leading to more information about what happened to Jasper.

The court hearing was less than 10 minutes long.

When it was over, Crowley left the courthouse to go visit with Brenda Wing in the jail.
•••

For background, read “Prosecutor expects plea deal will help reveal answers about Vader toddler’s demise” from Wednesday March 25, 2015, here

Daniel L. Norby waits at the defense table as court documents are signed setting his bail for criminal impersonation and theft charges.

Updated

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – What would you do if you’re taking the driver’s test to get your license and the examiner in the passenger seat directed you to a casino?

If he suggested you come inside to with him meet a girl that he knew? And then asked to borrow $20?

Like one recent applicant, you might start to get suspicious.

Centralia police say that’s exactly what happened to an individual who went to the Washington Department of Licensing on Kresky Avenue.

After checking in with a woman at the counter, and being told to wait outside where the examiner would be right out, a man who said his name was Dave got into the vehicle, and what followed weren’t the usual requests for showing one knows the rules of the road.

Authorities say “Dave” was really a 47-year-old Chehalis man posing as an employee from the state agency. He happened to be in line behind the applicant last Thursday.

Daniel L. Norby was arrested yesterday for first-degree criminal impersonation and charged with the same in Lewis County Superior Court.

Police and prosecutors offer no explanation for why he, allegedly, pretended he was giving a driving test.

Defense attorney Joely O’Rourke this afternoon told a judge her temporary client has been a law abiding citizen for the past five years, resides with his girlfriend on Brown Road outside Chehalis and also has three children, as she made her case for how low his bail should be.

Judge R.W. Buzzard wasn’t persuaded, noting that during two of those last five years Norby was incarcerated. Buzzard set bail at $25,000.

According to charging documents, the odd set of circumstances began when Edward Jerns went in to take his driving test.

Jerns described to a police officer what happened and how after a period of time at the Lucky Eagle Casino, he became skeptical and called the Department of Licensing to tell them, they were still at the casino.

He was told to notify security, and he did, the documents relate.

Jerns told Officer Doug Lowrey that also “Dave” had traded coats with him while at the Rochester establishment, and when he got his coat back, some $1,000 to $1,200 was missing from the inside pocket. He had just cashed his social security check, he said.

An employee at the Kresky Avenue licensing office told Lowrey she spoke to the man who walked in right behind Jerns, and that he was asking about how to get his license, according to court documents. She said she watched him walk out and get into Jerns’ vehicle.

Yesterday, the DOL employee and Jerns picked Norby out of a police photo montage, according to the court documents.

Lowrey said when Norby was contacted at a Centralia motel, he declined to be interviewed by arresting officers, but said the alleged deed last week that got him a lift to the casino seemed to be just an impromptu event.

Norby was also charged with second-degree theft.

He qualified for a court-appointed lawyer and is scheduled for arraignment a week from tomorrow.

Presumably the driver’s license applicant gets a do-over on the test.

Cessna 170B rests in large field off Southwest 216th Lane.

Updated at 5:16 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

GRAND MOUND – Responders were called to the scene of a small plane crash south of Grand Mound late this morning.

The call came from the pilot himself about 11:48 a.m., according to Thurston County emergency dispatchers

The Cessna 170B came to rest in a field near the 6200 block of Southwest 216th Lane.

Bill Fortman said he was sitting down at his dining room table having a cup of coffee when he looked out his window and saw an airplane sitting in the neighbor’s field.

“I thought well, I’d better go out and see if there’s anyone in that thing,” Fortman said. “I did. There was.”

The pilot was alone, leaning against the side, and asked him to open the door, Fortman said. He couldn’t hardly talk, he said.

“He was bleeding a little bit on one hand, he was talking to 911 and didn’t know where he was,” he said.

West Thurston Regional Fire Authority Lt. Lanette Dyer said arriving firefighters extricated the pilot and he described generalized back, neck and body pain.

AirLift Northwest picked him up at Rochester High School to fly him to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle in case of internal injuries, according to Dyer.

“We sent him to Harborview where they could take a closer look at him and make sure everything was good,” Dyer said.

The 73-year-old man was enroute from Spanaway to the Chehalis-Centralia Airport, according to Dyer.

She said she was told he was traveling at about 2,500 feet when he lost power to his engine, attempted various emergency procedures and then looked for an area to put the plane down safely.

The light green Cessna was in one piece and sitting upright, but tilted with the tip of one wing down.

The tail number is registered to a James W. Johnson, of Spanaway, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The fixed wing single engine aircraft was manufactured in 1958.

A hospital spokesperson said late this afternoon Johnson is listed in serious condition.

Fortman said he didn’t hear anything and wasn’t sure how long the aircraft was sitting outside the back of his home. He said he understood it flew over an adjacent stand of trees next to the open field and, thankfully, managed to clear them.

“Fortunately the grass was tall, so I think that cushioned it a little,” Fortman said.

Deputies and firefighters arrive to scene. / Courtesy photo by Thurston County Sheriff’s Office