A Washington man who brutally murdered his friend is not serving his maximum service because detectives violated his right to a lawyer after arresting him and throwing out his statements.
After a dispute, Robert B. McCorkindale, 25, says Preston Yahne, 22, tried to stab him with a box cutter, and in defense he stabbed his friend in the chest with a knife, reports Tri-City Herald. Yahne still had enough life in him to run away before McCorkindale ran him over several times with his own car.
After hitting Yahne with the car, McCorkindale left the scene.
He returned to the scene the next day and wrapped his friend's dead body in a tarp and threw it in the trunk of Yahne's car - the same car that killed him.
McCorkindale then drove the car to a gravel pit where he set the car on fire.
"We will not spend our time and energy on this person wondering how and why he killed our son," Angie Villanueva tells Tri-City Herald. "What we will do is go forward and get through each day by praying that it will be a bright day in memory of Preston, because that's what Preston would want us to do."
Yahne was described by his mother as a man with a big smile, an infectious laugh and memorable hug in court yesterday.
He was last seen by his family at his graduation from Yakima Valley Community College. The next day his family planned a celebration barbeque for Yahne, but he never showed up because he had his deadly altercation with McCorkindale earlier in the day.
The soon-to-be father was also killed just three days before he and his pregnant girlfriend were going to find out the gender of their first baby, reports Tri-City Herald.
"I would like to tell the family I am very sorry. I would also like to apologize to the court for the time that this matter has taken," a letter that McCorkindale read in court said. "I can never replace Mr. Yahne and my sorry will never be enough, but at this point that is all I can give."
McCorkindale pleaded guilty to second-degree murder charges. His charge was reduced from first-degree murder after a judge found Yakima County sheriff's detectives threw out the defendant's statements and violated his right to a lawyer after his arrest.
He will be at least 40 when he finishes his sentence.
"Some will say the best part of your life, the same part you took from Mr. Yahne, will be behind you," Judge Bruce Spanner tells Tri-City Herald.
