A Spokane County jury convicted William K. Baldwin of second-degree murder in the shooting of Hasani Vita.

Thursday's guilty verdicts are the jury's finding on both counts. Dec. 14 is the sentencing date the Spokesman-Review printed. The account of the shooting is what a prosecutor told the jury. KREM's description of Vita as a coworker, KHQ's report of Baldwin's claim that all three men worked at Amazon, and the sister's testimony that Vita was there to apply for a job are not the same account.

The Spokesman-Review reported Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, in a story by Garrett Cabeza updated at 9:49 p.m., that a Spokane County jury convicted William K. Baldwin, 22, of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Hasani Vita near an Amazon warehouse on the West Plains. The paper reported the jury of 12 spent two days deliberating. It reported Baldwin stood in a blue dress shirt and black pants next to his two defense attorneys when Spokane County Superior Court Judge Marla Polin read the decision aloud. It reported the jury also convicted him of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. It reported he is scheduled to be sentenced by Polin on Dec. 14. The story does not print a year on that date. A guilty verdict is the jury's finding. Dec. 14 is the date the paper says the judge is set to impose a term.

The Spokesman-Review reported the shooting was the afternoon of April 21, 2025. It reported Baldwin and Tyrese Washington, two Amazon employees, and Vita, who was going to the Amazon facility to apply for a job, got off a Spokane Transit Authority bus near the facility at Geiger Boulevard and Hayford Road. The paper's Oct. 20 trial story reported that Vita's sister testified that day that her brother was going to apply for a job at Amazon. She is not named here. The Oct. 29 story reported that Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Charles Crook told the jury during opening arguments that the three walked together, that Baldwin made multiple attempts to fight Vita, that he took off his shirt and put down his lunch and water bottle, and that Vita did not want to fight and tried to walk away. It reported Crook said Baldwin then pulled out a revolver and shot Vita, that Vita stumbled toward oncoming cars trying to wave at drivers while holding his face, and that he died at the scene. An opening statement is the prosecution's account. It is not a separate finding from the verdict.

The Spokesman-Review reported Crook said Washington ran into the Amazon facility and went to work, and that Baldwin gathered some belongings, ran around the facility, and discarded the gun in a field. It reported Crook said Baldwin climbed an Amazon fence, hid under a semitruck, and waited for family members, and that law enforcement detained him, shirtless, first. It reported he was released after an interview and arrested eight days later, when detectives developed probable cause for the murder charge. KREM reported April 30, 2025, that the Spokane County Sheriff's Office said detectives found probable cause on Tuesday, April 29, to arrest 21-year-old William K. Baldwin, and that he was booked on second-degree murder with bond set at $1 million. April 21 plus eight days is April 29. The Spokesman-Review did not print the bond. KHQ's April 30, 2025 story also put him at 21. The Spokesman-Review put him at 22 at the verdict. Those ages are from different dates.

The Spokesman-Review reported detectives found a silver Smith and Wesson revolver, with five empty .38-caliber cartridge casings inside, in a field along the route Crook said Baldwin used to leave. It reported court records say the gun was reported stolen in Spokane in 2024, and that Crook said investigators found DNA on the gun but could not link it to anyone because the gun had been in the field a long time. It reported Crook said Baldwin's DNA was on a blue zip-up hoodie and an empty gun holster in the hoodie pocket, found near Vita. It reported court documents say a bullet found in Vita's body and another found in a pile of plywood at the lumberyard across the street were .38 caliber. KREM's April 30, 2025 story reported a holster in the hoodie pocket and reported the gun itself had not been found. A gun not recovered in the days after the arrest, and a revolver the paper described at trial, are not the same status.

KREM reported in that April 2025 story that prosecutors alleged Baldwin shot his coworker, 24-year-old Hasani Vita, in the face and torso during an argument. The Spokesman-Review's verdict story described Vita as a person going to the facility to apply for a job, and described Baldwin and Washington as the employees. KHQ reported April 30, 2025, that court documents included Baldwin's claim that he, Washington, and Vita all worked together at the warehouse. Coworker, job applicant, and his claim that all three worked there are three descriptions. The paper's Oct. 20 story reported Spokane County Public Defender Laura Donahue told jurors that law enforcement never asked eyewitnesses to identify the shooter and that no forensic evidence tied Baldwin to the murder weapon, and that the defense said he had no motive. The Oct. 29 story reported the defense argument as most eyewitnesses could not identify the shooter and no forensic evidence tied him to the weapon. It did not print Donahue's name in that paragraph, and it did not print the no-motive line. The Oct. 29 story reported Deputy Prosecutor Jonathan Degen said after the hearing that he was thankful for the jury's decision and that Vita's family had been waiting a long time. It reported Baldwin was led out in handcuffs and smiled slightly as he walked down the hallway past members of Vita's family. Thursday's verdicts are the jury's finding. Dec. 14 is the sentencing date. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.