PORT ANGELES — Robert Gene Covarrubias leaned forward into the microphone to make sure his words were clear.
“Not guilty, your honor,” he told Clallam County Superior Court Judge George L. Wood at his arraignment Friday.
It was the second time that Covarrubias, 28, has pleaded innocent in Clallam County.
And July 6 will be the second time he is tried for first-degree murder in the 2004 death of 15-year-old Melissa Leigh Carter. Amended criminal information filed April 24 alleges Covarrubias committed the crime with sexual motivation.
Covarrubias was sentenced to 34 1/2 years in prison after a Clallam County jury found him guilty in April 2006, and had begun to serve his sentence when, on Jan. 6, the state Court of Appeals ordered a new trial on the grounds that the first trial was unfair.
The state court said that, although enough evidence existed for a conviction, errors by both the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and Judge Wood had hurt Covarrubias’ chance for a fair trial.
He was transferred from the Clallam Bay Corrections Center last month, and awaits trial on $1 million bail in the Clallam County jail.
After Covarrubias entered his plea, attorney Ralph Anderson said the defense will seek a change of venue because of press coverage.
A status hearing is set for May 29.
Carter was found strangled to death in a brushy hollow near the Olympic Discovery Trail, about 600 feet east of the Port Angeles Red Lion Hotel, on Dec. 26, 2004.
Carter was seen with Covarrubias at a party at the Chinook Motel in Port Angeles three days before her body was discovered.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com
