SPOKANE, Wash. – One of the suspects who was arrested in connection to the shooting death of a former Spokane Empire player is now being investigated for intimidation of a witness and witness tampering.
Payton Bradford, 26, is charged with second degree murder, first degree assault and obstructing. Ricky Tanner, 25, was also arrested in connection to the murder in October. He is facing first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm charges. He is being held on $1 million bond.
Court documents said during their stay at the Spokane County Jail, Bradford and Tanner were to be kept separated and stayed in other ends of the jail.
On March 1, court documents said Bradford had a meeting with his attorney and a detective where he said received a handwritten note from an inmate he did not know. The inmate told Bradford he was asked to give the note to him. Court documents said the note was from Tanner and had writing with a statement like “take this charge for me.”
Court documents said Bradford also got a letter in the jail mail that was sent from Florencia Kissinger. Bradford said he had just began reading the contents of the jail mail before he was called into the meeting. In court documents, Bradford said the letter contained documents Tanner had sent to Kissinger in order to have her mail the paperwork to him. He said he did not read all of the contents but he did see information of the type of sentence he would get if he were to take responsibility for the murder charges for Tanner.
Court documents said the detective got a warrant to search Bradford’s cell.
