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Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
January 28, 1999     Shelton Mason County Journal
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January 28, 1999
 
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Kohler convicted after rape trial Randy Kohler, 41, of Shelton was found guilty in Mason Coun- ty Superior Court Monday of four unts of second-degree rape after s one-time girlfriend and the raother of his daughters described a five-day "nightmare" of violence and Unwanted sex. Julie Smith of Allyn described the episode on the first day of tes- timony before Judge James Saw- Yer and a jury January 20. Her Veral hours of testimony over he COurse of the three-day trial Were Punctuated with tears and ger. She told the jury that she u sex with her former boyfriend Several occasions because she ed he would beat her if she re- his advances. tShe didn't tell the police about ae incident right away because sh. e Was weak and confused, she d, and was planning to kill the lather of her twin girls, Kayle and Christine. hi: I HAD MADE plans to kill m myself and wasn't thinking Qout the police," she said during an emotion-packed question-and- !SWer session on the afternoon Janu La, - 20. • Smith s testimony followed tat of Deputy Kenneth Potts of te Mason County Sheriffs Of- ce. He told the jury that he was Q Patrol around noon last July When he responded to a rape c{ nplaint. He took a statement , )ra Smith and then decided to ura. the case over to the detective viaion of the sheriff's office. _ qt was a valid incident that it'll ed investigation by someone Itl more experience than YIf,  he said. e state then called Smith to e Stand. Under questioning by I )Uty Prosecutor Reinhold Uetz, she told the jury that I tier had been her boyfriend I that she saw him every now ! l then when he visited with r daughters. ! EVENTS of interest to urt began on July 17, when , Kohler and a friend Ken Saylor decided to take er friend, JoAnn Matthews, attle so she could get free cal attention for her four ab- ed teeth. 2 f; " ,. ley decided to take a 2 - oo !79 Nissan Seabreeze motor- rae that Kohler wanted to buy bra Smith's mother. He had B a livin in the Nisqually area  had broken up with a girl- md who worked at a camp- i lld there. "He wanted to buy rron her because he had no- e to live," Smith said. • -e group dropped the chil- dren off to be cared for by their grandmother at their uncle's house in the Skokomish Valley and proceeded to Seattle, where they delivered Matthews to Har- borview Medical Center. Smith and Kohler remained in the camper while their friend sought medical attention, jurors were told. Smith testified that Kohler started slapping her around and abusing her verbally, and that she tried to leave the motorhome but he grabbed her by the hair. She said he slapped her dozens of times, accusing her of having sex "with everyone he knew," she said. SMITH TESTIFIED that Kohler cornered her in a bed tucked above the cab of the mo- torhome and undressed her, taunting her with the names of various people he believed she had been intimate with while per- forming oral sex on her and call- ing her names. "Ken knocked on the door and Randy told him we needed more time. Ken thought we were talking," she said. She said Kohler forced a beer down her throat and, after some conversation, abused her some more, Smith said. At one point, she said, she became so afraid that she urinated on herself. "I was afraid he'd kill me," she said. She said she then told him she loved him so that he would stop hitting her and that afterwards they talked for about 20 minutes. Saylor came back and knocked again and this time Kohler let him in. MATTHEWS SOON joined them and Smith gave the group an account of the events that had just transpired, she said. Mat- thews told Smith to go to a doctor but she refused because Kohler "gave her a dirty look." The group then drove back to Mason County, with Kohler and Smith taking turns at the wheel. They stopped at a gas station and at Mother Nature's Acres in Nis- qually before dropping Saylor off at Lake Limerick. While proceed- ing to Highway 101 by way of Brockdale Road, Smith said, they recognized Matthews' boyfriend's van coming toward them. As the motorhome and van sat nose to nose on the shoulder, the man ap- proached the camper and told Matthews and Kohler to get out, Smith said. Matthews' boyfriend, Smith testified, "was very mad," and wanted to beat up Kohler for tak- ing Matthews to Seattle, but Kohler did not get out of the mo- torhome. After Matthews left with her boyfriend, Smith said the vehicle would not start. "Randy said to come in the back for sex," Smith stated. She told the court that several times she said she told him no, she was in too much pain but that Kohler told her "You come back here if you know what's good for you." THEY WERE interrupted when Matthews' boyfriend re- turned and saw the motorhome still parked on shoulder. Smith said she got dressed, rolled down the window and told him the ve- hicle would not start. When Schuetz asked Smith why she did not clue in the man about what was happening, she said, "Randy was close to me. I was afraid if I said anything he'd hurt me again." They arrived at her uncle's res- idence in the Skokomish Valley where Smith and her three chil- dren and mother reside. She said she went into the house to use the bathroom and told her mother she fell from the motorhome. When she returned to the camper, Smith said Kohler want- ed to have sex again. Again she told him no, she testified, that she was in pain but they had sex on the top bunk after which he fell asleep. Smith said she lay there and could hear her children laughing and playing on swings on the trees. "I didn't want to wake him up," she said. Later in the afternoon, the two went into the residence and ate dinner with her children and mother. "Everybody ate dinner. I couldn't physically open my mouth far enough to eat," Smith said. SMITH SAID she and Kohler had sex a number of times over the next four days. She said that sometimes she told him she didn't want sex and sometimes she held her tongue but that in any event she never wanted to have sex with him. "I didn't want to but I did any- way because I was afraid," she said. "It was a nightmare. Every single day I didn't know what he wanted or what he was going to do to me." Smith said that his repeated slapping had dislocated her jaw. "Every day when I woke up my jaw would be dislocated," she said. She testified that at one point he used sex toys to intrude on her private parts. On two occasions, she said, he and seemed to threaten harm to the children if she told the truth instead. Smith said Kohler took the twins and Amy, Smith's older daughter, to Kneeland Park while she sought medical assistance from the chiropractor. She said she wound up setting the jaw her- self because the chiropractor wouldn't do it for her. SHE PASSED by the sheriffs office and the police department on her way to Kneeland Park, Smith said, but told the jury she had "made plans to kill him my- selff and wasn't thinking about seeking police intervention. She said Kohler bought some rum and Coke and then took her and the children to a campground with the idea of celebrating her birthday there. She said that on three or four occasions he told Amy to take the twins for a walk so that he and Smith could have sex. Smith said she took a different approach after a friend named Patrick called her from Nevada. "I told him that Randy beat the crap out of me, tried to kill me and had sex with me when I didn't want to," she said. KOHLER WAS arrested after Smith's mother, Alma Silverwood, called the police about an out- standing Spokane warrant for his arrest. On a friend's advice, Smith indicated, she had called Glenn Keefe, his probation officer. Keefe also told her to call the po- lice. She then called the authori- ties in Shelton and Seattle. The cross-examination of Smith by defense attorney Ron Sergi was postponed so that other witnesses could testify. Saylor told the court that he took his dog for a walk while the group was in Seattle. When he returned Kohler told him that he and Smith had had a fight. Smith didn't say much. He said she looked like she had been crying. "She looked like her lips were a little bit swollen and she was hunched over a little bit," he told the court. Michael S. Myers of Lacey is a physician's assistant at the Health Care Center in Shelton. He testified that he treated Smith on the day after Kohler's arrest and that he saw that she had a tender jaw and bruises on her arms and hips. "She said that she had been beaten numerous times around the head, struck with an open hand," he told the jury. do more to help her friend. "I was in no condition to do anything about it," she said. SILVERWOOD ALSO told the court that her daughter wa§ hurting upon her return from Seattle. "She was limping when she came through the door and had black and blue on her face and neck and head," she said. She said her daughter told her she had fallen out of the motor- home but after a few days of let- ting Kohler stay in the motor- home near her own residence she decided that she was going to call the police because he posed a threat to Smith. "I told her to go down and hide in the pasture until he was taken," she said. The state rested after Silver- wood testified. Defense attorney Sergi called Jeff Bean of Hoods- port to the stand. He said he saw Kohler, Smith and three of Smith's children shortly after the Seattle trip and that he found nothing unusual in Smith's de- meanor or appearance. He said she was smoking and talking nor- mally. SERGI THEN called Detective Michael Foster of the Mason County Sheriff's Office to the stand for the defense. Foster said he didn't search the motorhome and he didn't interview Kohler. In his closing remarks, Sergi said Smith's story was exagger- rated and that she had a chance to escape when they stopped to get gas on the way back from Seattle. He said if she'd really been beaten someone would have noticed. "She must not have looked as bad as she thought she looked or she would have drawn attention to herself," he said. Schuetz, in his closing argu- ments, said Smith is part of a "dysfunctional unit of friends" who are able to ignore obvious signs of trouble. "The victim in this case was essentially a psy- chological hostage from the point of the beating to the point of where the police came in," he said. The jury appeared to agree. Judge Sawyer scheduled sen- tencing for February 4. The jurors were Douglas Reim- ers, Scott Geist, Merrill Russell, Norma Conn, Philip Knowles, Kenneth Perry, Donna Crump, Thomas Tiede, Carol Sande, Jane Burns, Linda Shallit and Pamela Cassidy. Brenda Cleveland was the alternate. In superior court: John sentenced for forgery, drugs An Olympia man who two weeks earlier was found guilty of three crimes in two Mason Coun- ty Superior Court jury trials was sentenced last Thursday to al- most five years in prison. The sentencing judge observed that were it not for drugs, Ed- ward Dean John probably wouldn't have been in court at all. John, 44, whose most recent address in the court files was 6831 East Martin Way, Olympia, was sentenced to 40 months in prison for possessing heroin, 20 months for possessing ampheta- mines and 19 1/2 months for forg- ing a $71 check. Judge James Sawyer ordered that the sentences for drug pos- session be served concurrently. He'll start serving the sentence for forgery after that time is served. John was also ordered to pay $2,573.25 in costs, fines and fees and to make $71 in restitution tbr the forged check. He was also given a 90-day sentence for driving with a sus- pended license. That sentence will be served concurrently with those for the drug offenses. He was ordered to be on community supervision by the Washington Department of Corrections for 12 months following his release. Sawyer told John to stay away from alcohol and drugs as a condi- tion of his sentence. "I don't think there's very much question that but for drug addiction you wouldn't be here," the judge said. Griese Burdeen 9 enter guilty pleas Two cases set for trial in up- coming Mason County Superior Court terms were resolved with changes of plea during the past week. • Karol Lynn Griese, 34, of 1212 West Railroad Avenue, Shel- ton entered a change of plea in a case filed in December. She pled guilty Thursday to a charge of theft in the second degree. She was arrested on December 17 af- ter police were told she had left Wal-Mart in Shelton with a bas- ket full of Christmas presents she hadn't paid for. Judge James Sawyer sched- uled sentencing for March 4. He released her on her personal-re- cognizance while a pre-sentencing report is prepared. The court noted that she has prior convic- tions for forgery and possession of heroin. Deputy prosecutor Reinhold Schuetz said he would recom- mend a mid-range sentence. The goods taken from the store were said to be worth more than $250. • Donald Burdeen, 57, who currently lives in Eastern Wash- ington, pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of assault in the fourth degree and unlawful handling and carrying of a weapon. He was arrested November 25 after he allegedly waved a knife at Margaret Burdeen, his es- tranged wife. A no-contact order was entered and Burdeen agreed to live out of the area pending resolution of the case. Judge Sawyer scheduled his sentencing for March 4. RJ's Mufflers and More 2316 Olympic Highway North 427-3581 For oil your outomotive repoir needs left the house to go to work but SERGI THEN began his cross-examination of Smith. Re- 00Vrong name listed she didn't call the police. Thefirst time she fell asleep and by the spending to his questions.she said second time she had decided she there were a lot of people around PIONEER HIGH SCHOOL ,v^r l Jlg"or"n witness was going to kill him. the motorhome when it was parked near Harborview, includ- AND "AT THAT TIME I wasn't ing security guards. She also de- : thinking clearly at all," she said. scribed how they stopped at Ii gas cited in Mason ing Norling, Lingle reportedly dis- "I wanted a gun and I wanted to station o way back from FACILITIES BOND Superior Court last week wrong name of a witness of two cases filed against resident Leonard L. Norl- identified as a real- where Norling, allegedly assaulted P. Woodworth on January Amber Lapic, as origi- but Amber Beasley, to Shelton Police Detec- is scheduled to be ar- today on two felony that could send him to the rest of his life. If he is the two separate charg- strikes two and three the "three-strikes-you're- law affecting chronic vi- "Offenders. is charged with armed and assault in connection that allegedly oc- earlier this month. The ar- charge stems from that occurred earlier in the 300 block of Seventh Street in Shelton. to court papers, Norl- that one Joe Mar- over a Tommy Hilfiger at $165. Martin refused, Norling knife and threatened to if he didn't give Norl- coat," Lingle wrote in a on file in Mason Coun- Court. Lingle wrote then gave the coat to had told Martin she the garment while the was in earshot. received a complaint later he arrested the assistance of Them Adams and of SPD. While frisk- covered the top of a whiskey bot- tle in an outside pocket of his coat. The broken glass may be used to connect Norling to allega- tions that he had assaulted Wood- worth with a whiskey bottle earli- er at the home of Amber Beasley on Shelton-Matlock Road. According to court papers, Norling has an extensive court record going back to 1989, when he was first convicted in juvenile court at the age of 12. kill him." Tuesday, July 21, the fifth day of her "nightmare," was Smith's birthday. Smith said that Kohler came home about 11 a.m. from his job near Lake Cushman, where he stacks wood and makes lawn ornaments. Worried about her jaw, she insisted he take her to a physician but he took her to a chiropractor instead. She told the jury he told her to say she fell out of the motorhome Seattle. Smith told the court that she and Smith had lived together un- til he was jailed in March of 1997. JoAnn Matthews told the court that while the four were in Seat- tle, Kohler told the others that he had beat Smith up. "She was mumbling," Matthews said. "You could tell the jaw was hurting her because she was talking between her teeth." Sergi asked her why she didn't A quality ol core you've been waiting ,for Available in your own community Excellent LOng-Term Care • Nursing Services .Therapeutic Diets • Social Services • Recreation and Therapeutic Activities • Vacation/Respite Care Short-Term Medical and Rehabilitation Programs • Skilled Nursing • Physical and Occupational Therapy • Speech and Language Therapy • Respiratory Therapy • Specialized Wound Care • Complex IV Therapy • Discharge Planning Services i Featuring S.podous Private and I For more Information Semi Private Rooms call: SunRise LocoteaneorMosonGenerolHo,plto, (0) 490-5688 H ea Ithca re Medicaid, Medicare, and Private 153 Johns Court, Shelton VOTE YES! TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2ND FACT: The bond market is at the lowest it has been. The cost to the taxpayer is approximately $1.30 per $1,000 assessed value as opposed to $1.90 last April. It more than likely won't go any lower, but it will go up. FACT: If we don't build a high school in Pioneer District, they will have to build another one in Shelton. AND WE WILL PAY FOR IT. Our cost to Shelton when they build their new high school will be in the neighborhood of $4.8 million dollars. FACT: The Pioneer School District currently pays Shelton High School $400,000 dollars per year for our students to attend. Passing the bond would end our financial obligation to the Shelton School District and bring approxi- mately $4.5 million dollars in state matching funds for the construction of a new high school in Pioneer District. FACT: We enable Pioneer District to continue building vital community cen- ters, communication resources, theater and art centers, athletic facilities, meeting and classroom facilities that will enhance the quality of life for ALL of the families of Pioneer District. FACT: Having our own high school will attract more families to move into our area, therefore giving us a broader tax base. FACT: The Pioneer School District will be asking you to VOTE YES for the $16,130,000 bond proposal. $1,210,000 would go to the Primary School for 6 additional classrooms. $4,965,000 would go to the Intermediate/Middle School for renovation, modernization and additional classrooms. $9,955,000 would go toward construction of a new high school. VOTE YES ON FEBRUARY 2nd. IT JUST MAKES SENSE.. J Paid for by Pioneer Citizens for Education; E530 Phillips Lake Loop, Shelton,WA. 98584 ] CARING =OR THOSE YOU CARE ABOUT Thursday, January 28, 1999 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page 17 Kohler convicted after rape trial Randy Kohler, 41, of Shelton was found guilty in Mason Coun- ty Superior Court Monday of four unts of second-degree rape after s one-time girlfriend and the raother of his daughters described a five-day "nightmare" of violence and Unwanted sex. Julie Smith of Allyn described the episode on the first day of tes- timony before Judge James Saw- Yer and a jury January 20. Her Veral hours of testimony over he COurse of the three-day trial Were Punctuated with tears and ger. She told the jury that she u sex with her former boyfriend Several occasions because she ed he would beat her if she re- his advances. tShe didn't tell the police about ae incident right away because sh. e Was weak and confused, she d, and was planning to kill the lather of her twin girls, Kayle and Christine. hi: I HAD MADE plans to kill m myself and wasn't thinking Qout the police," she said during an emotion-packed question-and- !SWer session on the afternoon Janu La, - 20. • Smith s testimony followed tat of Deputy Kenneth Potts of te Mason County Sheriffs Of- ce. He told the jury that he was Q Patrol around noon last July When he responded to a rape c{ nplaint. He took a statement , )ra Smith and then decided to ura. the case over to the detective viaion of the sheriff's office. _ qt was a valid incident that it'll ed investigation by someone Itl more experience than YIf,  he said. e state then called Smith to e Stand. Under questioning by I )Uty Prosecutor Reinhold Uetz, she told the jury that I tier had been her boyfriend I that she saw him every now ! l then when he visited with r daughters. ! EVENTS of interest to urt began on July 17, when , Kohler and a friend Ken Saylor decided to take er friend, JoAnn Matthews, attle so she could get free cal attention for her four ab- ed teeth. 2 f; " ,. ley decided to take a 2 - oo !79 Nissan Seabreeze motor- rae that Kohler wanted to buy bra Smith's mother. He had B a livin in the Nisqually area  had broken up with a girl- md who worked at a camp- i lld there. "He wanted to buy rron her because he had no- e to live," Smith said. • -e group dropped the chil- dren off to be cared for by their grandmother at their uncle's house in the Skokomish Valley and proceeded to Seattle, where they delivered Matthews to Har- borview Medical Center. Smith and Kohler remained in the camper while their friend sought medical attention, jurors were told. Smith testified that Kohler started slapping her around and abusing her verbally, and that she tried to leave the motorhome but he grabbed her by the hair. She said he slapped her dozens of times, accusing her of having sex "with everyone he knew," she said. SMITH TESTIFIED that Kohler cornered her in a bed tucked above the cab of the mo- torhome and undressed her, taunting her with the names of various people he believed she had been intimate with while per- forming oral sex on her and call- ing her names. "Ken knocked on the door and Randy told him we needed more time. Ken thought we were talking," she said. She said Kohler forced a beer down her throat and, after some conversation, abused her some more, Smith said. At one point, she said, she became so afraid that she urinated on herself. "I was afraid he'd kill me," she said. She said she then told him she loved him so that he would stop hitting her and that afterwards they talked for about 20 minutes. Saylor came back and knocked again and this time Kohler let him in. MATTHEWS SOON joined them and Smith gave the group an account of the events that had just transpired, she said. Mat- thews told Smith to go to a doctor but she refused because Kohler "gave her a dirty look." The group then drove back to Mason County, with Kohler and Smith taking turns at the wheel. They stopped at a gas station and at Mother Nature's Acres in Nis- qually before dropping Saylor off at Lake Limerick. While proceed- ing to Highway 101 by way of Brockdale Road, Smith said, they recognized Matthews' boyfriend's van coming toward them. As the motorhome and van sat nose to nose on the shoulder, the man ap- proached the camper and told Matthews and Kohler to get out, Smith said. Matthews' boyfriend, Smith testified, "was very mad," and wanted to beat up Kohler for tak- ing Matthews to Seattle, but Kohler did not get out of the mo- torhome. After Matthews left with her boyfriend, Smith said the vehicle would not start. "Randy said to come in the back for sex," Smith stated. She told the court that several times she said she told him no, she was in too much pain but that Kohler told her "You come back here if you know what's good for you." THEY WERE interrupted when Matthews' boyfriend re- turned and saw the motorhome still parked on shoulder. Smith said she got dressed, rolled down the window and told him the ve- hicle would not start. When Schuetz asked Smith why she did not clue in the man about what was happening, she said, "Randy was close to me. I was afraid if I said anything he'd hurt me again." They arrived at her uncle's res- idence in the Skokomish Valley where Smith and her three chil- dren and mother reside. She said she went into the house to use the bathroom and told her mother she fell from the motorhome. When she returned to the camper, Smith said Kohler want- ed to have sex again. Again she told him no, she testified, that she was in pain but they had sex on the top bunk after which he fell asleep. Smith said she lay there and could hear her children laughing and playing on swings on the trees. "I didn't want to wake him up," she said. Later in the afternoon, the two went into the residence and ate dinner with her children and mother. "Everybody ate dinner. I couldn't physically open my mouth far enough to eat," Smith said. SMITH SAID she and Kohler had sex a number of times over the next four days. She said that sometimes she told him she didn't want sex and sometimes she held her tongue but that in any event she never wanted to have sex with him. "I didn't want to but I did any- way because I was afraid," she said. "It was a nightmare. Every single day I didn't know what he wanted or what he was going to do to me." Smith said that his repeated slapping had dislocated her jaw. "Every day when I woke up my jaw would be dislocated," she said. She testified that at one point he used sex toys to intrude on her private parts. On two occasions, she said, he and seemed to threaten harm to the children if she told the truth instead. Smith said Kohler took the twins and Amy, Smith's older daughter, to Kneeland Park while she sought medical assistance from the chiropractor. She said she wound up setting the jaw her- self because the chiropractor wouldn't do it for her. SHE PASSED by the sheriffs office and the police department on her way to Kneeland Park, Smith said, but told the jury she had "made plans to kill him my- selff and wasn't thinking about seeking police intervention. She said Kohler bought some rum and Coke and then took her and the children to a campground with the idea of celebrating her birthday there. She said that on three or four occasions he told Amy to take the twins for a walk so that he and Smith could have sex. Smith said she took a different approach after a friend named Patrick called her from Nevada. "I told him that Randy beat the crap out of me, tried to kill me and had sex with me when I didn't want to," she said. KOHLER WAS arrested after Smith's mother, Alma Silverwood, called the police about an out- standing Spokane warrant for his arrest. On a friend's advice, Smith indicated, she had called Glenn Keefe, his probation officer. Keefe also told her to call the po- lice. She then called the authori- ties in Shelton and Seattle. The cross-examination of Smith by defense attorney Ron Sergi was postponed so that other witnesses could testify. Saylor told the court that he took his dog for a walk while the group was in Seattle. When he returned Kohler told him that he and Smith had had a fight. Smith didn't say much. He said she looked like she had been crying. "She looked like her lips were a little bit swollen and she was hunched over a little bit," he told the court. Michael S. Myers of Lacey is a physician's assistant at the Health Care Center in Shelton. He testified that he treated Smith on the day after Kohler's arrest and that he saw that she had a tender jaw and bruises on her arms and hips. "She said that she had been beaten numerous times around the head, struck with an open hand," he told the jury. do more to help her friend. "I was in no condition to do anything about it," she said. SILVERWOOD ALSO told the court that her daughter wa§ hurting upon her return from Seattle. "She was limping when she came through the door and had black and blue on her face and neck and head," she said. She said her daughter told her she had fallen out of the motor- home but after a few days of let- ting Kohler stay in the motor- home near her own residence she decided that she was going to call the police because he posed a threat to Smith. "I told her to go down and hide in the pasture until he was taken," she said. The state rested after Silver- wood testified. Defense attorney Sergi called Jeff Bean of Hoods- port to the stand. He said he saw Kohler, Smith and three of Smith's children shortly after the Seattle trip and that he found nothing unusual in Smith's de- meanor or appearance. He said she was smoking and talking nor- mally. SERGI THEN called Detective Michael Foster of the Mason County Sheriff's Office to the stand for the defense. Foster said he didn't search the motorhome and he didn't interview Kohler. In his closing remarks, Sergi said Smith's story was exagger- rated and that she had a chance to escape when they stopped to get gas on the way back from Seattle. He said if she'd really been beaten someone would have noticed. "She must not have looked as bad as she thought she looked or she would have drawn attention to herself," he said. Schuetz, in his closing argu- ments, said Smith is part of a "dysfunctional unit of friends" who are able to ignore obvious signs of trouble. "The victim in this case was essentially a psy- chological hostage from the point of the beating to the point of where the police came in," he said. The jury appeared to agree. Judge Sawyer scheduled sen- tencing for February 4. The jurors were Douglas Reim- ers, Scott Geist, Merrill Russell, Norma Conn, Philip Knowles, Kenneth Perry, Donna Crump, Thomas Tiede, Carol Sande, Jane Burns, Linda Shallit and Pamela Cassidy. Brenda Cleveland was the alternate. In superior court: John sentenced for forgery, drugs An Olympia man who two weeks earlier was found guilty of three crimes in two Mason Coun- ty Superior Court jury trials was sentenced last Thursday to al- most five years in prison. The sentencing judge observed that were it not for drugs, Ed- ward Dean John probably wouldn't have been in court at all. John, 44, whose most recent address in the court files was 6831 East Martin Way, Olympia, was sentenced to 40 months in prison for possessing heroin, 20 months for possessing ampheta- mines and 19 1/2 months for forg- ing a $71 check. Judge James Sawyer ordered that the sentences for drug pos- session be served concurrently. He'll start serving the sentence for forgery after that time is served. John was also ordered to pay $2,573.25 in costs, fines and fees and to make $71 in restitution tbr the forged check. He was also given a 90-day sentence for driving with a sus- pended license. That sentence will be served concurrently with those for the drug offenses. He was ordered to be on community supervision by the Washington Department of Corrections for 12 months following his release. Sawyer told John to stay away from alcohol and drugs as a condi- tion of his sentence. "I don't think there's very much question that but for drug addiction you wouldn't be here," the judge said. Griese Burdeen 9 enter guilty pleas Two cases set for trial in up- coming Mason County Superior Court terms were resolved with changes of plea during the past week. • Karol Lynn Griese, 34, of 1212 West Railroad Avenue, Shel- ton entered a change of plea in a case filed in December. She pled guilty Thursday to a charge of theft in the second degree. She was arrested on December 17 af- ter police were told she had left Wal-Mart in Shelton with a bas- ket full of Christmas presents she hadn't paid for. Judge James Sawyer sched- uled sentencing for March 4. He released her on her personal-re- cognizance while a pre-sentencing report is prepared. The court noted that she has prior convic- tions for forgery and possession of heroin. Deputy prosecutor Reinhold Schuetz said he would recom- mend a mid-range sentence. The goods taken from the store were said to be worth more than $250. • Donald Burdeen, 57, who currently lives in Eastern Wash- ington, pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of assault in the fourth degree and unlawful handling and carrying of a weapon. He was arrested November 25 after he allegedly waved a knife at Margaret Burdeen, his es- tranged wife. A no-contact order was entered and Burdeen agreed to live out of the area pending resolution of the case. Judge Sawyer scheduled his sentencing for March 4. RJ's Mufflers and More 2316 Olympic Highway North 427-3581 For oil your outomotive repoir needs left the house to go to work but SERGI THEN began his cross-examination of Smith. Re- 00Vrong name listed she didn't call the police. Thefirst time she fell asleep and by the spending to his questions.she said second time she had decided she there were a lot of people around PIONEER HIGH SCHOOL ,v^r l Jlg"or"n witness was going to kill him. the motorhome when it was parked near Harborview, includ- AND "AT THAT TIME I wasn't ing security guards. She also de- : thinking clearly at all," she said. scribed how they stopped at Ii gas cited in Mason ing Norling, Lingle reportedly dis- "I wanted a gun and I wanted to station o way back from FACILITIES BOND Superior Court last week wrong name of a witness of two cases filed against resident Leonard L. Norl- identified as a real- where Norling, allegedly assaulted P. Woodworth on January Amber Lapic, as origi- but Amber Beasley, to Shelton Police Detec- is scheduled to be ar- today on two felony that could send him to the rest of his life. If he is the two separate charg- strikes two and three the "three-strikes-you're- law affecting chronic vi- "Offenders. is charged with armed and assault in connection that allegedly oc- earlier this month. The ar- charge stems from that occurred earlier in the 300 block of Seventh Street in Shelton. to court papers, Norl- that one Joe Mar- over a Tommy Hilfiger at $165. Martin refused, Norling knife and threatened to if he didn't give Norl- coat," Lingle wrote in a on file in Mason Coun- Court. Lingle wrote then gave the coat to had told Martin she the garment while the was in earshot. received a complaint later he arrested the assistance of Them Adams and of SPD. While frisk- covered the top of a whiskey bot- tle in an outside pocket of his coat. The broken glass may be used to connect Norling to allega- tions that he had assaulted Wood- worth with a whiskey bottle earli- er at the home of Amber Beasley on Shelton-Matlock Road. According to court papers, Norling has an extensive court record going back to 1989, when he was first convicted in juvenile court at the age of 12. kill him." Tuesday, July 21, the fifth day of her "nightmare," was Smith's birthday. Smith said that Kohler came home about 11 a.m. from his job near Lake Cushman, where he stacks wood and makes lawn ornaments. Worried about her jaw, she insisted he take her to a physician but he took her to a chiropractor instead. She told the jury he told her to say she fell out of the motorhome Seattle. Smith told the court that she and Smith had lived together un- til he was jailed in March of 1997. JoAnn Matthews told the court that while the four were in Seat- tle, Kohler told the others that he had beat Smith up. "She was mumbling," Matthews said. "You could tell the jaw was hurting her because she was talking between her teeth." Sergi asked her why she didn't A quality ol core you've been waiting ,for Available in your own community Excellent LOng-Term Care • Nursing Services .Therapeutic Diets • Social Services • Recreation and Therapeutic Activities • Vacation/Respite Care Short-Term Medical and Rehabilitation Programs • Skilled Nursing • Physical and Occupational Therapy • Speech and Language Therapy • Respiratory Therapy • Specialized Wound Care • Complex IV Therapy • Discharge Planning Services i Featuring S.podous Private and I For more Information Semi Private Rooms call: SunRise LocoteaneorMosonGenerolHo,plto, (0) 490-5688 H ea Ithca re Medicaid, Medicare, and Private 153 Johns Court, Shelton VOTE YES! TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2ND FACT: The bond market is at the lowest it has been. The cost to the taxpayer is approximately $1.30 per $1,000 assessed value as opposed to $1.90 last April. It more than likely won't go any lower, but it will go up. FACT: If we don't build a high school in Pioneer District, they will have to build another one in Shelton. AND WE WILL PAY FOR IT. Our cost to Shelton when they build their new high school will be in the neighborhood of $4.8 million dollars. FACT: The Pioneer School District currently pays Shelton High School $400,000 dollars per year for our students to attend. Passing the bond would end our financial obligation to the Shelton School District and bring approxi- mately $4.5 million dollars in state matching funds for the construction of a new high school in Pioneer District. FACT: We enable Pioneer District to continue building vital community cen- ters, communication resources, theater and art centers, athletic facilities, meeting and classroom facilities that will enhance the quality of life for ALL of the families of Pioneer District. FACT: Having our own high school will attract more families to move into our area, therefore giving us a broader tax base. FACT: The Pioneer School District will be asking you to VOTE YES for the $16,130,000 bond proposal. $1,210,000 would go to the Primary School for 6 additional classrooms. $4,965,000 would go to the Intermediate/Middle School for renovation, modernization and additional classrooms. $9,955,000 would go toward construction of a new high school. VOTE YES ON FEBRUARY 2nd. IT JUST MAKES SENSE.. J Paid for by Pioneer Citizens for Education; E530 Phillips Lake Loop, Shelton,WA. 98584 ] CARING =OR THOSE YOU CARE ABOUT Thursday, January 28, 1999 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page 17