Guilty plea to murder includes testimony

EPHRATA — A man who shot an acquaintance to death near Mattawa over a methamphetamine debt and two malfunctioning stereo amplifiers in July 2005, received a 20-year sentence Tuesday.

Marcus Dean Quesnell, 30, of Kennewick, was sentenced by Grant County Superior Court Judge Ken Jorgensen after pleading guilty earlier this month to second-degree murder in the slaying of 22-year-old Jonathan Carrico.

An orchardist discovered Carrico's remains on Oct. 14, 2005, stashed in old-fashioned root cellar along Road U S.W., two miles west of Mattawa. An autopsy determined Carrico died from a gunshot wound to the forehead, a .22-caliber bullet lodged in the victim's skull.

Quesnell was a person of interest in the Carrico homicide after Grant County Sheriff's Office detectives learned during interviews with people in the Mattawa area, who knew the men, Quesnell was one of the last two people seen with Carrico before the victim went missing, according to court documents.

The other person last seen with Carrico was James Isom Collins, 25, of Desert Aire, who's currently serving a sentence for federal firearms violations. Prosecutors are now considering murder charges against Collins.

After Quesnell was arrested for investigation of first-degree murder on Oct. 19, 2005, he told investigators Collins shot Carrico, superior court records show.

That changed when Quesnell pleaded guilty this month. He now says he shot Carrico. Quesnell was motivated to shoot Carrico, he told investigators, by fear of losing his own life, claiming Collins would kill him if he didn't.

As part of his guilty plea, Quesnell agreed to testify against Collins.