`Cowboy Mike' Braae convicted of rape, murder of WA woman

Jurors have convicted a former country singer known as "Cowboy Mike" of rape and first-degree murder in the death of a Lacey woman.

Michael John Braae, 48, was found guilty Thursday in Thurston County Superior Court for the 2001 killing of Lori Jones, 44. Authorities said Braae's DNA was found on Jones' body, and his fingerprint was on a window blind at her apartment.

Brae testified he had sex with Jones, but denied having anything to do with her death. Defense lawyer Larry Jefferson suggested that police investigators were sloppy.

Braae was arrested in Idaho in 2001 after leading police on a 40-mile car chase, which ended when he jumped from a 40-foot-high bridge into the Snake River. An Idaho sheriff's deputy testified that Braae was picked up by a police boat after trying to drown a police dog sent into the water to catch him.

Braae is serving time for assault in Idaho. He has recently been held at the Washington state prison in Shelton and was transported with extra security for the trial in Olympia.

Braae has a history of attempted escapes. In 1997, he escaped from the Thurston County, Wash., jail while serving time for a drug conviction.

A 2006 Braae attempted murder trial in Yakima ended in a mistrial when a Yelm woman who had been shot in the head was unable to testify because of her brain injury.