Man admits jury would convict him in transient’s death

SPOKANE – A man charged with killing a homeless amputee by setting fire to grass as he slept next to his wheelchair last summer entered a modified plea to a murder count Tuesday.

Matthew Brian Trammell, 23, entered an Alford plea to second-degree murder in the June 26, 2006, death of 50-year-old Doug R. Dawson, known by his street name as “One-Leg Doug.”

Under an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt, but acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence to convict. Trammell had been charged with first-degree murder.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Sam Cozza scheduled sentencing for Oct. 12. Deputy Spokane County Prosecutor Rachel Sterett said prosecutors will seek a prison term in the high end of the state’s 10- to 18-year sentencing range.

Police allege Trammell and Sean Paul Knold, 24, had just robbed a woman downtown on June 23, 2006, and fled to an alley where Dawson was sleeping.

Officers responding to the robbery call received another call of a fire in the alley, where they found flames burning near Damson’s midsection, including his pants, blankets and wheelchair. He died three days later at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Knold and Trammell were arrested for the robbery and were later questioned about Dawson’s death after a fire investigator reported that he believed the fire had been intentionally set.

Court documents indicate Trammel originally implicated Knold, but then admitted igniting the grass near Dawson. Detectives contend the damage to Dawson’s wheelchair, clothing and bedding indicated an ignition source other than burning grass.

Knold said he saw Trammell on the ground near Dawson but he denied seeing him set the fire.

Both men ran from the scene and caught up with each other in a parking lot just east of the crime scene, according to court documents. Knold told detectives he thought Trammell was joking when Trammell told him, “I just lit that guy on fire.”

Knold, 24, was not charged in Dawson’s death.