ID & WA: Cowboy Mike on trial

Notorious inmate's attempted murder trial begins

The long-anticipated attempted murder trial of "Cowboy Mike," one of the most notorious inmates in the history of Yakima County, finally got under way today.

Michael John Braae, 46, a drifter and aspiring country-and-western singer known as Cowboy Mike, is accused of shooting girlfriend Marchelle Morgan in the head and leaving her for dead on Parker Bridge Road in 2001...

He is serving more than nine years in prison for trying to evade a manhunt in connection with Morgan's shooting, firing at Idaho police during a wild chase and leaping 40 feet off an interstate bridge into the Snake River.

In addition to the Yakima case, he faces a murder charge in Thurston County in connection with the death of a Lacey woman.

Yakima County, Thurston County, Idaho...shudder to imagine crossing paths with this guy.

Bonus link goes to the retirement party this month for the Malinois K-9 cop who caught Cowboy Mike: