LOCAL
A6 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2019
Defendant changes plea in murder case
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
Vincent Wesley David
Shermantine no longer faces
a murder charge for the 2018
killing of Eric Navarrete of
Hermiston.
Shermantine, 30, of
Hermiston, pleaded guilty
Sept. 3 to fi rst-degree rob-
bery and unlawful use of a
weapon, according to state
court records.
The Umatilla County
District Attorney’s offi ce in
April charged Shermantine
with those two crimes plus
Shermantine
Sommerville
murder and felon in posses-
sion of a weapon. Circuit
Judge Dan Hill accepted the
change of plea at his court-
room in Hermiston and
remanded Shermantine to the
custody of the sheriff’s offi ce
pending his sentencing.
The court also sealed the
plea petition, and District
Attorney Dan Primus said
he did not want to talk about
the plea while the case con-
tinues against Shermantine’s
co-defendant, David Edgar
Sommerville.
The state accused Sher-
mantine and Sommerville
of robbing Navarrete at gun-
point on June 4, 2018, stat-
ing that Sommerville in the
course of the crime shot and
killed Navarrete.
Sommerville, 20, of
Boardman, has pleaded
not guilty to two counts of
unlawful use of a weapon,
Kiwanis Park gets new
playground, basketball court
murder and aggravated mur-
der, the only crime that car-
ries the threat of the death
penalty in Oregon.
Oregon has 29 men
and one woman on death
row, according to the Ore-
gon Department of Correc-
tions. The state’s last execu-
tion was May 16, 1997, with
the lethal injection of Harry
Charles Moore. The gover-
nor’s offi ce in 2011 placed
a moratorium on executions.
Umatilla County has not had
an aggravated murder case
since 2015.
Jaclyn Jenkins, chief dep-
uty district attorney, fi led a
notice on Aug. 3 the state will
not seek the death penalty for
Sommerville. The fi ling does
provide an explanation.
The next hearing in the
case is Tuesday, and the
court set Nov. 5 for a settle-
ment conference.
Pending that outcome,
the case has an all-day hear-
ing June 9, 2020, to con-
sider motions about a month
before the trial. Defense
attorney Benjamin Kim
asked for that hearing this
past June when he notifi ed
the court he planned on fi l-
EO Media Group launches new
apps for several Oregon papers
HERMISTON HERALD
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Umatilla mayor Mary Dedrick, center, cuts the ribbon on a new playground at Kiwanis Park in
McNary on Friday afternoon.
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Children growing up in
McNary will have a better
place to play after the city of
Umatilla cut the ribbon on a
new playground at Kiwanis
Park on Friday.
“Parks have the power
to let the good times roll, or
slide, or swing, or bounce or
whatever people want to do
here,” city manager David
Stockdale said.
The playground was built
thanks to an $18,000 grant
Courts
Continued from Page A5
•Midland Funding LLC vs. Re-
becca Fisk of Hermiston: seeks
$918.42.
•Merchants Acceptance Corp.
vs. Eduardo Torres and Maria
Rodriguez of Hermiston: seeks
$6,500.50.
Judgments
from the Good Shepherd
Community Health Founda-
tion. The Hermiston Kiwanis
Club and city of Umatilla
also contributed money
toward adding a second bas-
ketball court to the park and
adding lights to both courts.
Stockdale
announced
that the city just received
word they will be receiving a
$75,000 grant from the Ore-
gon State Parks and Recre-
ation to add bathrooms next
spring.
He said studies have
shown a variety of good
ing a hefty demurrer or
objection.
“I anticipate that the
Demurrer fi led will exceed
500 pages and will require
signifi cant time for the State
to fi le a written response,”
according to the notice.
“While I believe the
arguments set forth in the
Demurrer are well founded
in law, and without conced-
ing the legal arguments con-
tained therein, the Demur-
rer also preserves a series of
arguments and objections in
order to litigate the issues on
a possible appeal.”
EO
Media
Group
recently announced the
release
of
brand-new
mobile apps for several of
its publications.
Apps are available for
the Hermiston Herald, East
Oregonian, Capital Press,
The Astorian, Chinook
Observer, Blue Mountain
Eagle and Wallowa County
Chieftain.
They are free to down-
load on the Apple and Goo-
gle Play stores for iPhone,
iPad and Android phones
and tablets.
The app includes the
ability to personalize your
home page with the catego-
ries most interesting to you,
including sports, opinion
and most recently added
stories.
Users can also share arti-
cles from the app to social
media, bookmark articles
to read later and sign up
for push alerts on breaking
news.
Each publication’s app
offers free, unlimited arti-
cles through the month of
September. After that, a
print or online subscrip-
tion will be required to con-
tinue with full access to the
content.
Current subscribers will
automatically have full
access using the same user-
name and password they
use for the regular website.
Find the Hermiston Her-
ald website’s subscriber
services section listed on
the website’s menu and
obtain your login informa-
tion needed after Oct. 1.
outcomes for children who
live within a mile of a park,
including the fact that they
are more likely to maintain
a healthy weight, stay out of
trouble, get good grades and
learn how to appropriately
assess risk.
Bob Green of GSCHF and
David McCarthy of Kiwanis
told the crowd assembled at
the park on Friday that they
were pleased their organiza-
tions could assist in making
it a better place to play, and
promoting wellness in the
community.
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AW19-1034
6197
PENDLETON — The follow-
ing judgments have been
rendered in Umatilla County
courts):
•U.S. Bank N.A. vs. Sergio Men-
doza: judgment for $4,879.25.
•OneMain Financial Group LLC
vs. Katrina N. Capote: judg-
ment for $5,233.85.
•LVNV Funding LLC vs. Lavanda
Watkins of Hermiston: judg-
ment for $1,877.52.
•Ray Klein Inc. vs. Anthony
L. Abdich: judgment for
$20,497.91.
•Credits Inc. vs. Alexander
R. Sendlinger of Hermiston:
judgment for $234.29.
•Capital One Bank vs. Alfredo
Escalera of Hermiston: judg-
ment for $2,106.71.
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others to get screened too.
Divorces
PENDLETON — Divorce
decrees were signed in Uma-
tilla County Courts for:
James Lee Iverson and Katie
Marie Iverson of Hermiston;
Brianne Taylor Neubert of
Hermiston and Michael Alfred
Neubert of Irrigon; Blanca
Delia Ordaz of Umatilla and
Apolinar Munoz Gutierrez of
Tecoman, Mexico.
COLORECTAL CANCER
The cancer you can prevent.
Marriages
TheCancerYouCanPrevent.org
PENDLETON — Marriage li-
censes have been registered
in Umatilla County for:
Jovita Emilia Vargas Flores, 29,
and Veronica Nicole Legarda,
22, both of Hermiston.
Tyler Alan Schwirse, 25, and
Destiny Julie Ann Jundt, 24,
both of Hermiston.
Joseph Danniel Murray, 35, of
Pendleton, and Jamie Dean-
nette Reaves, 39, of Boardman.
Karen King
Pendleton, Oregon
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