Self-defense claimed in Eastern Washington student dragging death

NEWPORT — A man being held in the dragging death of a college student acted in self-defense after the young martial arts enthusiast threatened others with an ax at a hunting camp, a defense lawyer says.

Pend Oreille County District Judge Philip J. Van de Veer found probable cause to hold Wendell C. Sinn Jr., 45, of Newman Lake, for investigation of second-degree murder or first-degree manslaughter and set bail at $100,000.

Sinn was released from jail later Monday after surrendering his firearms and posting bail. His lawyer, John P. Nollette, said Sinn intends to fight any criminal charges.

"This man was operating in defense of himself and others," Nollette said without elaborating.

Second-degree murder in Sinn's case would carry a standard prison term of 10 years, three months, to 18 years, four months, and manslaughter would mean 6 ½ to 8 ½ years, Deputy Prosecutor Antonio D. "Tony" Koures said.

Sheriff Jerry Weeks has said Sinn's son, Justin Daniel Sinn, 17, apparently did not know Jerid S. Sturman-Camyn, 20, a sophomore studying civil engineering, was roped to the rear bumper hitch when his father told him to take off in a Ford F-250 pickup truck late Saturday night near Usk.

According to sheriff's deputies, Sturman-Camyn got belligerent with an ax in a group of eight people, four fathers with their sons, at Sinn's hunting campsite on the east bank of the Pend Oreille River.

Sturman-Camyn and his father, Jerry "Scott" Camyn, had been camped with another father-son pair before joining the other four Saturday night at Sinn's campsite, investigators said. All eight were participating in a late buck deer season for muzzle loaders.

Some of those in the group had been drinking, but field tests indicated Sinn had consumed little alcohol and that his son and two other teenagers present had not consumed any, Weeks said.

Sinn told investigators he was afraid for the safety of himself and others who were present and told his son to start the pickup and "be ready to leave if things got bad."

With his son in the truck, Sinn attached a rope to the hitch and around Sturman-Camyn's neck, then yelled for the teen to drive away, Koures said.

An autopsy Monday showed Sturman-Camyn died of strangulation and from being dragged over graveled and roughly paved roads. Tests to determine whether he had been drinking or had other drugs in his system were incomplete.

He was found dead about 13 miles from the campsite after the teenager called authorities and said he believed someone was chasing him down the road with an ax. About the same time, another person reported that a pickup was dragging a body in the rural areas about 45 miles north of Spokane.

Sheriff's Sgt. Questin Youk said the teenager "was in shock" at learning he had dragged Sturman-Camyn to death.

Sturman-Camyn, who previously attended Washington State University, had been training at the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu club of Spokane for about eight months.

He was on the football and wrestling teams at Klahowya Secondary School in Silverdale, finishing second in the Class AA high school state wrestling tournament in the 189-pound weight class as a senior in 2005.

On Monday night about 150 students on the Eastern Washington campus in Cheney held a vigil in for Sturman-Camyn, circling a three-foot photograph of him outside his Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house, lighting candles, reciting a prayer and expressing their thoughts.

It was the second death of an Eastern Washington student in less than a week. Early Thursday, Ryan J. Emery, 20, died after fleeing from a state trooper and crashing down a 200-foot embankment.

"The students are just trying to understand what is going on. We honor both lives of these students," said Evan Buelt, student body president. "The students and entire university are in support of these students and primarily their families."

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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesmanreview.com