No charges filed in June death
EPHRATA - The Grant County prosecutor decided not to charge an Auburn man for an associate's death on the shore of Banks Lake in June.
Grant County Prosecutor Angus Lee announced the decision earlier this month in a letter to the sheriff's office. Lee stated an inconclusive autopsy and apparent self-defense led to the decision.
The Columbia Basin Herald filed a public records request shortly after the letter was sent, and had to wait until the people named in the letter were notified about its release.
The incident started while Valeriy Blinkov, Anatoliy P. Mitskavich and a third man were on a fishing trip, according to the letter. Mitskavich, a 6-foot, 4-inch man reportedly drank heavily during the trip.
"(Mitskavich) began to pressure (Blinkov) into wrestling with him," Lee wrote. "(Blinkov) resisted but was grabbed and forced to defend himself from the much larger and very intoxicated aggressor."
When Blinkov reportedly put the other man into a hold, asking him to stop, Mitskavich threatened to kill him. Blinkov allegedly let the man go after hearing snoring, according to the letter.
"(Blinkov) immediately reported the incident to (the) friend, who was sleeping in the nearby car," Lee wrote. "(Blinkov) then immediately called 9-1-1 and reported the incident and waited for the police to arrive."
Blinkov told police Mitskavich claimed he was "Russian Mafia" and regularly beat people up at a casino in the Auburn area, and felt the man could kill him if he let him go.
Washington law does not require a person to retreat before using force to defend themselves, Lee wrote.
"A person is entitled to act on appearances in defending himself if he believes in good faith and reasonable grounds that he is in actual danger of injury," Lee stated. "Actual danger is not necessary for the use of force to be lawful."
Lee also pointed out self-defense requires the prosecutors to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the force used was not lawful.
"Even in the event (Blinkov) was the cause of death, all evidence shows that he was lawfully in an area from which he had no duty to retreat when he was placed in danger of an assault or at least the appearance of a danger of an assault and had a right to take reasonable steps to defend himself," Lee stated.
Along with the issue of self-defense, Lee noted the coroner's examination of Mitskavich showed no sign of trauma and the death certificate lists the "immediate cause of death as acute ethanol intoxication."
"The toxicology report of (Mitskavich's) blood levels shows that (he) had a blood alcohol content of 0.29 and a vitreous alcohol content of 0.37," Lee stated. "Blood alcohol contents between 0.25 and 0.40 in the human body have been shown to cause severe ataxia, lapses in and out of consciousness, unconsciousness, respiratory depression (potentially life-threatening), and decreased heart rate."
Lee stated it's doubtful Blinkov caused the death.