A man charged in the 2012 stabbing death of his cousin pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder with a deadly weapon enhancement.
Bradley Percy Courville, 25, told police that the victim, Quinn Oliver, 26, called him a name so he, Courville, stabbed him multiple times in the early morning hours of Dec. 24, 2012.
Courville also pleaded guilty to third-degree assault for assaulting an Auburn Police officer. He faces a sentence range of about 15 to 23 years in prison. Prosecutors expect to recommend 19 years in prison when Courville, 25, is sentenced at 1:45 p.m. Jan. 10 before Judge LeRoy McCullough in courtroom 4A at the Maleng Regional Justice Center.
Senior DPA John Castleton handled the case.
Police were called to 4023 Auburn Way S. shortly after 1 a.m. When officers arrived, Quinn was unconscious and bleeding from a stab wound in the neck. Officers and medics tried CPR but pronounced him dead at the scene.
According to the Auburn Police Department’s affidavit of probable cause, which formed the basis for the charges, a woman at the scene told police that Quinn had come into the residence from outside after being stabbed and told her that “Red Cloud,” Quinn’s cousin, Courville, had stabbed him.
Shortly afterward, Courville emerged from some bushes and identified himself to officers.
When detectives later asked Courville what had happened, he said that he had been experiencing a spiritual moment when he grabbed a butcher knife from the residence and went outside. While outside, Courville said Quinn had called him a “bitch,” so he stabbed him in the neck.
While detectives were interviewing Courville at the Auburn Police Department he tried to escape from the interview room by assaulting the officer guarding him, and that during the struggle Courville removed the officer’s gun from its holster. The officer, however, disarmed Courville before he could do any more harm.
“The defendant admitted to stabbing the victim in the neck simply because the victim called him a name,” Deputy Prosecutor John B. Castleton Jr. “The autopsy revealed that the victim was stabbed multiple times about the head, face and neck.”
Courville has a 2010 conviction for second-degree robbery out of Pierce County, which arose from shoplifting at a department store.
