A 38-year-old convicted murderer is in trouble with the law again after allegedly carrying a gun outside the Uptown Shopping Plaza.
Jalil K. Handy appeared by video from the Benton County Jail Monday, where he’s being held on suspicion of illegally possessing a gun. He is accused of getting a gun out of a vehicle during an argument.
The Spokane man served a 10-year sentence for the 2008 killing of Anthony E. Dennis, 43, in Spokane, The Spokesman-Review reported. The then 20-year-old man along with two others were allegedly looking to rob Dennis for crack cocaine.
Handy’s attorney, Joseph Faurholt, said on Monday that Handy had stayed out of trouble up until last night’s arrest. Handy has denied getting the gun.
But Judge Bronson Brown said the murder, and the potential for violence on Saturday made him decide to set bail at $100,000.
A security guard was walking across the parking lot to Denny’s Restaurant about 2 a.m. Saturday when he walked by a group of people fighting, court documents said. He heard someone say, “go get the strap.” Strap is a slang term for a gun.
He also allegedly saw a man in his 30s with tied back dreadlocks get pushed into an SUV, court documents said.
The guard heard what he believed was the slide on a pistol being pulled back to load a bullet into the gun.
Officers allegedly spotted Handy leaving the parking lot in a black SUV. When they stopped it, Handy and a woman were in the car. Police searched the SUV and discovered a gun on the rear passenger floor board, court documents said.
Handy talked to officers and denied having or handling the gun. Spokane murder
Handy was with two other men, Henry J. Holloway and Samuel Thomas, with a plan to steal drugs and then sell them in October 2008, The Spokesman-Review reported.
They allegedly decided to rob Dennis because he had once sold “bunk” crack to Holloway, and Holloway needed money after becoming a father.
Dennis was found dead with two gunshot wounds — one in the chest and one in the head — in his 1999 Ford Expedition near Grant Street and Pacific Avenue in Spokane.
Thomas pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery and was sentenced to a year in prison.
Holloway was sentenced to 43 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing Dennis.
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