Twenty-year-old Christian Palmer was sentenced last month to 24 months in state prison after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter in the baseball-bat beating that left 53-year-old Airway Heights resident Terry Toner dead in 2017.
Palmer and Brandon Pierce, also 20, have been in custody since August of last year, when a house party led to a late-night brawl between the three men. Palmer was originally charged with second-degree murder, but the charge was downgraded as a part of a plea agreement.
Court documents show that Palmer’s mother, Elizabeth Palmer, spoke on his behalf at his November sentencing hearing, calling the past 15 months “a learning experience for Christian.”
According to charging documents for the defendant, Pierce and Palmer began arguing over a girl on Aug. 25, 2017 and were asked to leave a party. The fight spilled into the breezeway of an apartment complex on Sixth Avenue in Airway Heights when Toner intervened and was beaten to death with a bat and a series of kicks.
Documents filed by Palmer’s private defense attorney, Bevan Maxey, claim that Toner was the aggressor in the incident, drunkenly threatening the two men and other partygoers with a bat.
Following the altercation, Palmer was found in the parking lot covered in blood and was transported to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center for head injuries. He originally told detectives that due to the injuries, he had no memory of the physical dispute.
Last August, District Court Judge Richard Leland issued a no-contact order between Palmer and Pierce, who has been represented by a public defender.
Pierce’s trial began this week on Dec. 4.
Shannen Talbot can be reached at shannen@cheneyfreepress.com.
Reader Comments(0)