[1]Joshua Vance sits with defense attorney David Arcuri as he pleads guilty to murder in Lewis County Superior Court.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Going to trial is a gamble and both sides in the Onalaska murder case in which a 25-year-old mentally disturbed man stabbed to death his sleeping father chose to cut their losses with a plea agreement.
Joshua Leroy Vance previously pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but this morning told a judge he was guilty.
His father, 58-year-old Terry Vance, was stabbed at least 11 times and his throat was cut the morning of March 7.
Lawyers crafted a modified set of charges so they could secure a sentence of between 25 and 30 years.
Vance, 25 years old and shackled at the waist and ankles said very little in court today, only answering Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt’s several questions.
Vance pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
“That means you thought about it for awhile and decided that’s what you were going to do?” Hunt asked.
“Yes,” Vance replied.
Instead of three counts of attempted murder, because Vance had told deputies and hospital personnel he had intended to kill the rest of his family, Vance pleaded guilty to third-degree assault.
The plea to the second count was pursuant to a doctrine referred to as “In re Barr”.
As the judge put it, he pleaded guilty to a crime he may not have committed or did not commit as part of an agreement.
Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher explained he knew he could not get a conviction on those charges because of a rule that prevents him from relying on the defendant’s confessions alone.
Had the case moved toward trial, Vance’s admissions would not have been heard by a jury and Meagher would be left with no evidence of attempted murders, Meagher said.
But Meagher wanted Vance to be held accountable for them, so offered the “In re Barr” option with third-degree assault, he said.
Meagher will be asking for 30 years in prison when Vance is sentenced the week after next.
Defense attorney David Arcuri will be asking for 25 years, he said.
A psychiatric evaluation by a doctor for the defense supported the not guilty by reason of insanity, but an examination by a doctor hired by prosecutors indicated differently, according to Arcuri.
“If both experts had agreed, we would not be doing this,” Arcuri said.
It’s all about weighing the probabilities and the potential amounts of time, Arcuri said.
His client would have been facing close to 100 years in prison if they’d gone to trial and lost, he said.
Vance was attending Centralia College in the months before the attack. He was being treated for mental health issues; his family said he’d gone off his medications because he couldn’t afford them.
His diagnosis’s in the Western State Hospital doctors’ report included psychotic disorder, major depression, amphetamine dependence and alcohol abuse.
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.
Meagher said he took that into consideration.
“Let’s face it, the guy does have psychotic tendencies,” Meagher said.
Sentencing is set for Oct. 17.
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For background, read “Breaking news: Plea agreement made in Onalaska murder case” from Monday October 1, 2012, here [2]