Michael J. Pierce has filed an appeal of his 2009 conviction for the murders of Pat and Janice Yarr.
Pierce, 35, was convicted March 2009 of shooting the Quilcene couple to death in the course of a robbery, then setting fire to their Boulton Farm Road home.
The former Sequim and Quilcene resident and Peninsula College student was identified as using the Yarrs’ bank debit card the same day they were killed.
He was sentenced in May to 118 years in prison for the double murders, as well as for the use of a firearm in each killing; first-degree robbery and burglary; theft of a firearm; unlawful possession of a firearm; and second-degree theft of an access device.
Pierce is serving his sentence at the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla.
Pat Yarr was 60 and Janice Yarr was 57 when they died. About 700 mourners attended a memorial service for the couple described as icons in the timber industry.
On May 19, Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser denied a motion for a retrial for Pierce after defense attorney Richard Davies contended that Pierce was convicted by testimony as the result of jurors’ misunderstanding of key testimony.
A trial transcript showed a witness testified that Pierce had asked if investigators had asked about smelling gasoline.
But jurors told the Peninsula Daily News that they understood Pierce had asked the witness if he, Pierce, smelled of gasoline, and they considered it damning evidence against him.
The issue is among a long list of appeal points filed with Division Two of the state Court of Appeals on Jan. 20 by Pierce’s appeal attorney, Mark Larranaga of Seattle.
The trial court should have granted a new trial based upon that information, the appeal argues.
It also challenges other decisions made by Verser before and during the two-week trial last year, including denial of a change of venue due to pretrial publicity and prejudicial errors in the jury selection process.
The appeal alleges prosecutorial misconduct regarding evidence disclosure by Scott Rosekrans, who prosecuted the case as chief deputy prosecutor for Jefferson County but has since been elected county prosecuting attorney.
County prosecutors have 60 days to respond to the appeal.
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Julie McCormick is a freelance writer and photographer living in Port Townsend. Phone her at 360-385-4645 or e-mail juliemccormick10@gmail.com.
