A paperwork problem turns a manslaughter guilty plea into a Kennewick murder charge
A man who about to be sentenced to 17 years in prison for killing a man during a Kennewick robbery withdrew his guilty plea this week.
A problem in the paperwork of the plea agreement allowed Anthony T. Spearman, 40, to change his first-degree manslaughter guilty plea in favor of going to trial for second-degree murder.
Spearman initially pleaded guilty in March to wounding Leonard Slack Jr., 65, inside a Hood Avenue apartment in August 2021.
Slack died two days later of injuries that doctors at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center found were much worse than initially believed.
Deputy Prosecutor Brendon Pang explained in court on Thursday that there was a mistake when prosecutors used Spearman’s previous crimes to calculate his standard sentencing range in Washington state.
What prosecutors initially thought was a conviction for manufacturing drugs turned out to be for illegal drug possession.
Online court records show Spearman has a lengthy criminal history dating back to when he was 14, and most of it was for illegal drug possession.
While state law used to consider illegal drug possession a felony, a Washington State Supreme Court decision overturned those convictions. Now they can’t be used to determine sentences in felony cases.
That mistake made his sentencing range from abut 13 years to over 17 years in prison when he pleaded guilty at the end of March.
Prosecutors planned to ask for the maximum end of that range, while his defense attorney could ask for the low end at his sentencing hearing.
When the error was discovered, Spearman had two choices — follow the current agreement or withdraw his plea and head to a trial instead.
Spearman chose to withdraw his plea.
His trial is set for July 31.
Spearman has been in the Benton County jail since he was arrested at the Thunderbird Motel in Pasco on Aug. 12, 2021. He surrendered to officers, including U.S. Marshals, the Tri-City Regional SWAT, Kennewick and Pasco police.
Hood Avenue shooting
Police were called to Slack’s Hood Avenue apartment when a neighbor said Slack came to his door asking for help.
The neighbor said he heard the sound of glass or furniture breaking inside the apartment so he called 911, court documents said.
As the commotion continued next door, the neighbor cracked his door open just wide enough to see into the hall. He spotted a tall, skinny man wearing all black and a baseball cap running down the stairs.
The neighbor then heard Slack yelling for help. He found Slack wounded and called 911 again.
Officers found Slack “hunched over on the living room floor,” court documents said. “The couch was flipped over and a living room table appeared as though it had been thrown or broken and was lying on its side in the living room.”
A bronze revolver was found underneath him on the floor, documents said.
Slack was bleeding from gunshot wounds to his forearm and stomach. He said Spearman had shot him, court documents said.
He was taken to Trios Southridge Hospital in Kennewick where he again named Spearman as his attacker. He claimed Spearman was trying to rob him, but couldn’t answer more questions before being taken into surgery.