Kuest guilty of first-degree rape

RITZVILLE - A jury in Adams County Superior Court has found Ritzville man Michael Anthony Kuest, 27, guilty of first-degree rape with a deliberately cruel aggravator, two counts of second-degree assault and one count of witness tampering.

Kuest will be sentenced March 2; he's facing a maximum sentence of life in prison.

In his opening argument, Adams County Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney K. Peter Palubicki said the case would be about choices the defendant made.

"Life is about choices," Palubicki said in his opening argument. "The defendant made a choice to turn a consensual sexual encounte...