By Al Camp
The Chronicle

     OKANOGAN – One of four people charged in the death of a Tonasket woman last March entered a plea agreement Monday, March 29, just days before the trial of two others accused in the slaying.
     Brent “Hollywood” Lane Phillips, 39, Spokane, pleaded guilty to the reduced charges of first-degree murder - premeditated murder, first-degree manslaughter of an unborn child, tampering with evidence and first-degree kidnapping.
     The state entered a negotiated settlement with Phillips in exchange for his testimony against the other three charged in the death of Michelle L. Kitterman.
     Kitterman, 25, was about 11 weeks pregnant when she was found beaten and stabbed to death, apparently by an ice pick, on remote Stalder Road about 15 miles southwest of Tonasket, court records said.
     Tansy Fay-Arwen Mathis, 30, and David Eugene Richards, 34, who also are from Spokane, are combined for trial that starts Tuesday, April 6, with the selection of jurors.
     Mathis is charged with aggravated first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree manslaughter and tampering with physical evidence.
     Richards is charged with aggravated first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree manslaughter.
     Sloan told the court he’d have a summary of what Phillips would testify to ready for other attorneys by Tuesday, March 30.
     All three have been in jail since their arrest, with bail of $1 million.
     The fourth defendant, Lacey Kae Hirst-Pavek, 34, Crumbacher, has been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. She has been out on bail of $250,000.
     The standard sentencing range for Phillips, who will be sentenced May 11, is 281 to 374 months on the murder charge, Prosecutor Karl Sloan said in the 40-minute hearing. The other charges carried lesser ranges that are to be served concurrently with the murder conviction.
     Sloan said he was going to recommend 312 months, or 26 years, which is in the middle of the sentencing range.
     By pleading guilty, Phillips cannot appeal the sentence.
     For more, see The Chronicle’s print edition for March 31.