Kelly pleads to amended charges
COEUR d’ALENE — A Spokane man pleaded guilty Wednesday to recklessly endangering the life of a Post Falls 22-year-old by making him eat the methamphetamine that caused him to die.
Shaun Patrick Kelly faced a murder charge until Wednesday’s hearing in 1st District Court where he instead pleaded guilty to four amended charges.
If run consecutively, the sentences for the charges could result in a life prison sentence plus an additional 30 years.
Kelly, 44, was accused of forcing Evan Larkin, the grandson of former Post Falls Mayor Clay Larkin, to ingest a lethal dose of crystal meth almost two years ago, because he thought Larkin was a police agent, according to court records.
After previously pleading not guilty and being released from jail on a $150,000 bond, Kelly accrued a series of additional offenses. He was charged with six counts of burglary, grand theft, possession of stolen property, eluding police and intimidating a witness in separate cases.
Earlier this year he was arrested after leading police on a chase in a stolen vehicle and District Judge Cynthia K.C. Meyer set bond at $1 million.
At Wednesday’s change of plea hearing, the judge signed orders to dismiss a slew of the charges as part of a plea agreement. Kelly pleaded guilty to delivery of methamphetamine, which carries a sentence of up to life in prison, and an enhancement of inducing great bodily harm, which adds a maximum 20-year sentence. The combined charges replaced the second-degree murder charge.
Kelly also pleaded guilty to felony possession of a firearm, and felony eluding, which each carry sentences of no more than five years in prison.
According to a police report, Kelly pointed a gun at Larkin and made him eat a fatal dose of meth to prove he wasn’t a police informant. In a quiet voice Kelly told the judge Wednesday he gave methamphetamine to Larkin, and that he had a gun.
“He came over to my house, and I gave him some drugs,” Kelly said. “I did have a firearm.”
Meyer accepted the guilty pleas that allow Kelly’s defense attorney to argue for a reduced sentence, and to have penalties run concurrently.
Larkin’s family — including his mother, Lori, and his grandfather, who were in the courtroom — said they were relieved to near the end of the case that started in August 2015 when the victim’s friend, Josh Brown, who was with Larkin at the time of his death, took the victim to the hospital.
“It took a long time to get to today, and today was really special,” Clay Larkin said. “No one should have to pass in a violent and traumatic episode as Evan did.”
The family thanked the Kootenai County prosecutor’s office for the work that culminated in Wednesday’s guilty pleas.
“We believe after sentencing, which in my mind should be life in prison,” Larkin said, “that justice will have been served.”
Meyer scheduled a Aug. 16 sentencing date.