Meriwether sentenced to nearly two years

Pleaded guilty to assaulting Moses Lake woman in her home

EPHRATA - Michael Ian Meriwether, 23, Moses Lake, was sentenced in Grant County Superior Court Tuesday to nearly two years in prison for entering a Moses Lake home and assaulting a woman.

Meriwether will serve 20.25 months for attempted burglary in the first degree and assault in the third degree for the February attack. After prison, the Department of Corrections will supervise him for 18 to 36 months.

Grant County Superior Court Judge Evan Sperline sentenced Meriwether and required him to pay a $1,400 court fine. A restitution hearing will be held at a later date.

In February, Meriwether assaulted terminally ill cancer patient Christine Hughes in her Moses Lake apartment. She told investigators he entered her home, beat her with a blunt object, tied her up and choked her in an attempt to steal her medications.

Meriwether's defense attorney Michael Haas claimed Meriwether is a drug addict and Hughes was reportedly supplying him with drugs. Sperline rejected the information indicating such accusations were unneeded during sentencing and should have been explored during an open trial.

Meriwether was initially arrested by the Moses Lake Police for attempted homicide in the first degree, robbery in the first degree and kidnapping in the first degree. He later agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges, as outlined by the prosecutor's office.

During Meriwether's sentencing, Hughes wept out loud.

She thought Meriwether would serve a few months in jail and be released back into the community.

Hughes wrote a victim impact statement describing what she went through. She hoped to sway Sperline into providing Meriwether a longer sentence.

"It was worth it to do the impact statement. My God, it made all the difference," Hughes said. "There's life afterward."

Sperline read the statement in private during a court recess. Hughes planned to read the statement out loud in session but declined because she did not feel stable.

"I have been diagnosed with cancer and a liver disease, when I was told this I felt my life had ended," Hughes wrote in the statement. "In my heart I knew I was not a quitter and that I could beat this. Then this predator, whom I thought I knew and trusted, destroyed me again. Living with fear and questioning myself, 'what do I have to live for?' I will not allow him to win, I will not allow him to destroy my life."