PORT ANGELES — New weapons charges have been filed against alleged triple murderers Dennis Marvin Bauer and Ryan Warren Ward.
The Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed Friday amended criminal information alleging 16 weapons violations against Bauer and 11 new counts against Ward.
Bauer, 51, and Ward, 38, each have pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated first-degree murder with firearm enhancements for the shooting deaths of Darrell Iverson, 57, Jordan Iverson, 27, and Tiffany May, 26.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office alleged that Bauer and Ward stole weapons from the scene of the Dec. 26, 2018 murders east of Port Angeles.
Bauer was charged Friday with six counts of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, six counts of possession stolen firearms and four counts of theft of a firearm.
He will be arraigned on the new counts Feb. 21.
Ward was charged Friday with three counts of theft of a firearm, three counts of unlawful possession of a short-barrelled shotgun or rifle, two counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, two counts of possessing a stolen firearm and one count of first-degree trafficking in stolen property.
He pleaded not guilty.
Ward also was charged in January 2019 with one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
Clallam County prosecutors said the Bauer and Ward cases will be adjudicated after evidence is tested at a State Patrol crime lab.
“That’s still in the process,” Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin told Superior Court Judge Lauren Erickson on Friday.
“I spent multiple days on the phone with the lab asking for overtime, asking for the heavens to open, but as we know, there’s not a lot that we can do to speed things up.
“We’re hoping for the beginning of March to have the scientific evidence done,” Devlin added.
“Again, the optimum word is hoping.”
Ward’s six-week trial is scheduled to begin May 4.
Bauer’s trial is scheduled to commence June 8.
Those trial dates will likely be reset at Ward and Bauer’s next court hearings Feb. 21, Devlin said.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said the victims were shot outside Darrell Iverson’s residence on Bear Meadow Road east of Port Angeles on Dec. 26, 2018.
A third suspect, Kallie Ann LeTellier, 35, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of second-degree murder with a firearm enhancement for May’s death. She would serve 35 years in prison under the terms of a cooperation agreement that was negotiated by Clallam County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin and defense attorney Larry Freedman. Part of the agreement is that she will testify in the Bauer and Ward trials.
She will be sentenced after the Bauer and Ward cases are resolved.
The murders appeared to grow out of a disagreement between Bauer and Darrell Iverson over the treatment of LeTellier, deputies said in the affidavit for probable cause.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, Bauer and Ward took multiple firearms from the Iverson residence after the shootings.
Detective Jeff Waterhouse said 15 firearms or firearms parts were found at Bauer’s property on the 2500 block of Lower Elwha Road. Ward lived on the property in a trailer, Waterhouse said.
A member of the Iverson family identified seven weapons that had been taken from the Bear Meadow Road property, court papers said.
“Some of these firearms were found in Dennis Bauer’s shop, which according to witnesses, was padlocked and only Dennis Bauer and Ryan Ward had keys to open it,” Waterhouse said in the probable cause affidavit.
Ward’s lawyer, Port Angeles attorney Lane Wolfley, objected to the three counts of unlawful possession of a short-barrelled shotgun or rifle charges against his client.
“The machine gun and sawed-off shotgun statute says that it is a crime if any of those types of weapons are possessed,” Wolfley said.
“The rule of lenity would apply, and so whether you have one or three illegal sawed-off shotguns, that is a single unit of prosecution.”
Erickson found probable cause for the filing of the new charges. She directed Wolfley to make his argument in the form of a motion.
Bauer is being represented by Port Angeles attorney Karen Unger.
Unger told Erickson that Bauer would continue to make court appearances by telephone.
“He does not want to be transported here,” Unger said.
Bauer is being held on $3.5 million in the Kitsap County jail.
Ward is being held in the Jefferson County jail on $3 million bail.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
