By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The 25-year-old Onalaska resident who claimed he was legally insane when he took a knife to his sleeping father has changed his mind.
Joshua Leroy Vance is scheduled to plead guilty in the case that began in early March with the stabbing death of 58-year-old Terry Vance.
[1]Joshua Vance / File photo
A change of plea hearing is set for Thursday morning in Lewis County Superior Court.
“I don’t know how he could do otherwise, I really don’t,” his grandmother Bonnie Vance said today.
The younger Vance is charged with murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder, as he allegedly told an arriving deputy he was going to kill his grandmother, uncle and 11-year-old nephew but couldn’t because he cut his hand.
Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said a plea agreement was reached, but the details won’t be revealed until the parties go before a judge.
“We gotta wait till Thursday,” Meagher said. “I don’t want to upset the apple cart.”
The younger Vance previously pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. An evaluation by a doctor for the defense bolstered his position, but a court date was planned for a judge to hear from experts on both sides.
The findings from the doctor hired by prosecutors are not part of the court file.
The only hearings scheduled now are a change of plea on Thursday and sentencing on Oct. 17.
His family has said 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.
Newly filed court documents indicate he was asked why he would harm his other family members.
Prosecutors wrote the defendant said he wanted to get rid of any witnesses, they all treated him poorly his whole life and turned their backs on him when he was sexually abused by a family friend.
“He felt he could no longer live in filth and would be happier going back to prison,” prosecutors quoted Vance as telling a detective.
Defense attorney David Arcuri was not readily available this afternoon for comment.
Joshua Vance’s past criminal offenses include possession of a controlled substance without a prescription in 2006, third-degree assault and attempted eluding in 2005, according to a report in his court file.
He was attending Centralia College and getting good grades in the months before the homicide at Bonnie Vance home’s on the 400 block of Pennel Avenue in Onalaska, according to his file.
Neither she nor her son Larry Vance have spoke with her grandson, as a no-contact order is in place with witnesses.
Bonnie Vance isn’t sure what she would say to her grandson anyhow, she said.
“I would like to know why, but that’s about it,” she said.
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For background, read:
• “Insanity” of Onalaska murder defendant to be decided by a judge” from Tuesday August 21, 2012, here [2]
• “Onalaskan’s insanity plea in alleged murder of father bolstered by mental exam” from Wednesday July 11, 2012, here [3]
• “Onalaska man pleads insanity in father’s fatal stabbing” from Tuesday May 8, 2012, here [4]
• “Murder suspect: “When he was good, he was such a good young man”” from Friday March 9, 2012, here [5]