Attempted murder-by-insulin case set for arraignment in Port Angeles this week

PORT ANGELES — A mental evaluation for Robbie Wayne Davis, the man accused of trying to kill his 57-year-old step-uncle with a potentially deadly dose of insulin, is expected to be reviewed at his arraignment Friday.

Davis’ arraignment was continued last week after defense attorney Alex Stalker announced he was still waiting for the report from Dr. Ken Muscatel.

Clallam County Superior Court Judge Christopher Melly reset the arraignment for 9 a.m. Friday.

Davis, 39, had the mental evaluation after co-counsel John Hayden raised the issue of his client’s mental competency.

Port Angeles police allege that Davis injected Richard Haynes with insulin while Haynes was hospitalized at Olympic Medical Center on June 15.

Haynes, who has Down syndrome, is not diabetic.

According to the certification for probable cause, a nurse found Haynes with dangerously low blood sugar about an hour after Davis left Haynes’ room at 9:18 p.m. that day.

Haynes was treated for hypoglycemia.

Davis was charged June 30 with first-degree attempted premeditated murder and first-degree assault by administering a destructive or noxious substance.

Aggravated circumstances were added to both charges.

Davis has maintained his innocence. He is being held in the Clallam County jail on $25,000 bail.

According to court documents, Hospital surveillance footage showed that Davis was the only visitor to Haynes’ hospital room between 8:43 p.m. and 9:18 p.m. June 15, when a nurse found Haynes in distress.

Davis lives east of Port Angeles with Haynes and other family members, one of whom is an insulin-dependent diabetic, so needles and insulin are in the home, police have said.

Haynes had been hospitalized for extreme hypoglycemia twice before the June incident.

On April 4, Clallam County sheriff’s deputies investigated a report of Haynes being admitted to OMC for conditions related to hypoglycemia.

Haynes was admitted March 22 with abnormally low blood sugar “confirmatory of injected insulin,” court papers said.

A sheriff’s detective “developed probable cause to believe that somebody in the household had administered insulin to Haynes; however, there was insufficient evidence to develop probable cause to show that any one person was responsible for injecting Haynes with insulin,” the report said.

Haynes, who medical personnel said has the intellect of a 3-year-old, was also hospitalized Dec. 12, 2013, for dangerously low blood sugar.

An OMC doctor told police the hypoglycemic state “most certainly caused at least some degree of permanent brain damage,” police said.

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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.

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