Man gets 15 years for woman's death

Family and friends of Kelly Sallee breathed sighs of relief when a Kootenai County judge sentenced Patrick McGhee to a minimum of 15 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter and destruction of evidence, with an additional 10 years possible.

"I was pretty pleased with the outcome," Sallee's son, Jason Stidd, told The Press after McGhee was sentenced Friday. "It's certainly not going to bring my mother back, but I think it gives him enough time that he will likely not ever leave prison, which is fine by me."

McGhee, 47, of Hauser, entered an Alford plea — an admission that the state has enough evidence to convict him without claiming responsibility — in February for voluntary manslaughter and destruction of evidence in the death of the 55-year-old Spokane woman.

In June, 2015, Sallee's body was discovered partially submerged in Hauser Lake. McGhee was arrested two weeks later after a series of text messages sent from Sallee's phone led police to McGhee.

Shortly after his arrest, McGhee was indicted on charges of second-degree murder, failure to notify authorities of a death, felony destruction of evidence, procurement of prostitution and trafficking in prostitution. The murder charge was amended to voluntary manslaughter and the other charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement, except for the destruction of evidence. The failure to notify charge was dropped prior to the plea agreement.

During Friday's hearing, District Court Judge Cynthia Meyer heard testimony from the prosecution and defense. Stidd was the only witness to testify for the prosecution and no witnesses came forth on behalf of McGhee. McGhee declined to comment when prompted by the judge.

Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney Jed Whitaker told the court that the plea agreement included the 15-year fixed sentence, but asked the judge to add a 15-year indeterminate sentence for a deadly weapon enhancement. The weapon enhancement was added to the voluntary manslaughter charge as part of the plea agreement because McGhee used an electrical cord while committing the crime. Whitaker said there is still a dispute over the circumstances of Sallee's death.

"I do not believe for a minute that this was a very bad accident," Whitaker said.

Whitaker said when Sallee met McGhee, she was in a "very bad place in her life," turning to drugs and prostitution.

According to Whitaker, McGhee changed his story several times during the initial investigation. McGhee eventually claimed Sallee's death was an accident that happened during "rough sex," and admitted to cleaning her body with bleach and dumping her in the lake.

Defense attorney John Adams reminded the court that the murder charge was already amended to voluntary manslaughter as per the plea agreement. He said if the prosecution wanted to prove murder, they should not have agreed to the Alford plea. He said McGhee is one of the "most unsophisticated" clients he has ever had and asked the judge to consider a two-year indeterminate sentence for the weapon enhancement.

While the judge agreed that the probability of McGhee reoffending is low, she said he "must be punished" for his crimes.

"There are things in this case that have never made sense to me," Meyer said, adding the defense's claim that Sallee's death was an accident didn't make sense given the circumstances and evidence.

McGhee also received five years for the destruction of evidence that will run concurrent with the 15-year sentence for the voluntary manslaughter charge.

Meyer added that the case "fills her with sadness" — sadness for Sallee, who didn't deserve to die, as well as sadness for McGhee, who she said had a tough upbringing.

Stidd spoke on behalf of the defense about how his mother's death affected him over the past year. He said it affected his relationship with friends and girlfriends, he is depressed and his grades in college have suffered. He later told The Press he is finishing an associate of arts transfer degree and plans to attend Eastern Washington University to become a medical assistant.

"I think about her every day," Stidd told the court as emotion overwhelmed him and tears came to his eyes. "It's hard for me to sleep ... I keep waking up and I feel like my mom's going to be there — and she's not."

Arthur Levin, a longtime friend of Sallee's, showed The Press several photos from when Levin and Sallee lived together for about 10 years before her brother was killed three years ago. He said that was about the same time she started taking drugs. He said she loved her family, her three sons in particular, as well as motorcycles and eagles.

"She was very beautiful," Levin said thoughtfully as he browsed through the photos.