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 Kenan Adams-Kinard, 17, pleaded guilty in Spokane County Superior
Court to first-degree murder in the death of 88-year-old Delbert
"Shorty" Belton, as a part of a deal in which robbery charges
against him would be dropped. He could serve between 20 and 27 years
in jail on sentencing, according to media reports.
Belton, who had survived a gunshot wound to the leg during the
Battle of Okinawa in 1945, died a day after being beaten up in
August 2013 by Adams-Kinard and his accused accomplice, Demetrius
Glenn, both 16 at the time, outside a Spokane area fraternal lodge.
In a police affidavit paraphrasing a witness account, Adams-Kinard
said he "was trying to buy an ounce of crack cocaine from 'Shorty'
and 'Shorty' tried ripping him off." Adams-Kinard said he then
punched Belton and took his money back.
 NBC News last year quoted a police spokesman as saying there was "no
evidence to support" the allegation that Belton was dealing drugs.
The two teenagers were charged with first-degree murder in Belton's
death, and first-degree robbery and first-degree conspiracy to
commit robbery, but both initially pleaded not guilty to the
charges, the Spokesman-Review newspaper reported.
Glenn, whose trial is slated to begin on Jan. 12, has not changed
his plea, media said.
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The affidavit said police also seized a handwritten letter that
Adams-Kinard allegedly wrote to his mother in which he also said the
crime was a drug deal gone sour.
"I took his wallet and another ounce of crack from his pockets. He
was unconscious, so I made sure he was still breathing, and then I
took off," the affidavit quoted the letter as saying.
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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Washington
state teenager pleads guilty to murder of World War Two veteran: media
