By Roger Harnack
The Chronicle

     OKANOGAN – Closing arguments in the case against two people charged in last year’s slaying of 25-year-old Michelle L. Kitterman are expected to begin Thursday morning, April 22.
     “Tonasket” Tansy Fay-Arwen Mathis, 30, and David Eugene Richards, 34, both of Spokane, are on currently trial, charged with aggravated first-degree murder or, in the alternative, first-degree murder with premeditation, first-degree manslaughter of an unborn child and first-degree kidnapping.
     If convicted they face a sentence of life in prison.
     Mathis, 30, was recalled to the stand Wednesday, April 21, to discuss an “angel of death” threat letter allegedly left in her baby’s crib a few weeks after the murder last year.
     In her testimony in Okanogan County Superior Court, Mathis alleged 39-year-old Brent “Hollywood” Lane Phillips of Spokane had drawn the picture as a warning to keep her mouth shut after he stabbed Kitterman to death last year.
     Kitterman, 25, was about 11 weeks pregnant when her body was found March 1, 2009, on remote Stalder Road about 14.5 miles southwest of Tonasket.
     Phillips accepted a plea agreement March 29 to the reduced charges of first-degree murder-premeditated murder, first-degree manslaughter of an unborn child, tampering with evidence and first-degree kidnapping.
     A fourth defendant in the killing, Lacey Kae Hirst-Pavek, 35, Crumbacher, is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter.
     Hirst-Pavek, who is out of custody on $250,000 bail, allegedly hired Mathis to find people to rough up Kitterman, who was pregnant by Hirst-Pavek's husband, Danny Pavek, court records show.
     Hirst-Pavek faces trial July 6.
     On Wednesday, Mathis testified she had tried to find someone to get her a gun because she was afraid of Phillips in the days and weeks after the killing.
     According to Mathis, Phillips drew the picture as they were en route from Tonasket to Spokane following Kitterman’s death.
     “He offered me this drawing and I wouldn’t take it,” she said, noting the letter turned up in her baby’s crib in her Spokane house March 25 or 26, 2009.
     “It was laying inside my baby’s crib,” she said, adding the drawing also had her daughter’s name on it.
     The threatening drawing allegedly was located by private investigator Robert Gaines on Monday, April 19.
     Gaines, who has been retained by the defense, said Mathis’ boyfriend, Steve Pena, put the threat in a mailbox for Gaines to pick up.
     Prosecuting Attorney Karl Sloan grilled Mathis over the threat.
     “You didn’t testify about this when you were first called up,” he said.
     Mathis previously testified yesterday, April 20.
     With the threat admitted into evidence, Mathis’ attorney, Steve Graham, rested her defense.
     But Sloan recalled Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office Detective Mike Murray to the stand.
     Murray had interviewed Mathis prior to her arrest, but she said nothing of the threat, he said.
     Murray also interviewed Pena, who also did not disclose the threat, he said.
     Richards took the stand in his own defense, too, Wednesday.
     For the jury, he recounted his interactions with Phillips and Mathis, noting he introduced the two.
     He said they were all in the business of selling pot and marijuana, Richards called Mathis is “best” supplier.
     He repeated denied any involvement or prior knowledge of the slaying.
     “I didn’t know anything about it until after it happened,” he said.
     In other testimony Wednesday, Sloan recalled forensic pathologist Dr. Gina Fino, who served as coroner in the case.
     Testifying by telephone, Fino refuted testimony by Dr. John Butt, a forensic specialist called by the defense who testified previously that Kitterman could not have felt her unborn son move prior to her death.
     Mathis, Richards and Hirst-Pavek all face charges based on the death of the baby.
     Case law requires quickening – the point at which a pregnant expectant mother feels her unborn baby move – in order to be charged with the death of a fetus.
     Butt testified that the male fetus was far too young for Kitterman to have felt it move prior to her being stabbed to death with an ice pick-like instrument.
     On Wednesday, Fino said the text book that Butt used for the basis of his opinion, “Before We Were Born,” could not accurately be used in this case.
     But when pressed on whether or not Kitterman could feel her unborn son move, she said:
     “I cannot comment on what the mother’s perception can be. I can just tell you the ingredients are there.”
     She said her opinion was based on her experience and general knowledge of the fetal process.
     At the end of testimony Wednesay, presiding Chelan County Superior Court Judge T.W. “Chip” Small said attorneys will prepare instructions for the jury by Thursday morning.
     He expects closing arguments to follow.