PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County Administrator Philip Morley said there is really only one good way to describe where a gag order on the county’s elected officials regarding the double-murder trial of Michael J. Pierce places them.
“I believe ‘between a rock and a hard place’ is the correct term,” Morley said. “On one side, we have the right to a fair trial, and the other is the public’s right to know.
“The commissioners want to seek a balance between those obligations.”
Pierce, 34, of Quilcene, is charged with killing Quilcene residents Patrick and Janice Yarr and six other felonies related to the murders and the burning of the Yarr’s Boulton Farm Road home in March. His trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 2.
At the request of Pierce’s attorneys, Richard Davies and Mark Larrañaga, Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser sealed several documents in the case in June, and in July signed an order prohibiting the county commissioners, auditor and treasurer from disclosing financial information related to the case.
The three Jefferson County commissioners agreed Monday that the status quo is not the balance they want to see, and voted unanimously to have Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Juelie Dalzell file a motion to remove the gag order on public officials.
“While we respect the judge’s need and wish to have a fair defense and trial, they also need to balance the public’s right to know the money they are spending,” Morley said.
“They need to take into account the public records law.”
Gag order
Under the current gag order, if a request for documents regarding the cost of Pierce’s appointed public defense came to one of the officials, the person could not release it without being held in contempt of court.
However, if public officials don’t release the information, they could be in violation of public information laws.
On Aug. 14, Dalzell’s office will argue in Jefferson County Superior Court to have the elected officials removed from between the “rock” of public information and the “hard place” of the right to a fair trial.
“This is all really periphery to the murder trial,” Dalzell said.
“The problem is that the elected officials are put into a position where they either have to be held liable for violating the public disclosure act or be held in contempt of court for violating a court order.”
Dalzell’s office also plans to fight the sealing of the documents. That hearing is set at the state Court of Appeals in Tacoma on Aug. 26.
Ordered sealed were documents showing the appointment of an expert at the public expense, submitted invoices, time sheets and payment for appointed counsel to Pierce, any records of professional visits to Pierce at the Jefferson County jail, medical records from the jail and motions requesting documents be sealed.
Pierce remains in the Jefferson County jail on $250,000 bail. Along with two counts of murder, Pierce is also charged with arson, robbery, burglary, theft of a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm and theft.
Dalzell has until Aug. 14 to decide if prosecutors will pursue the death penalty.
Orders said to be routine
Larrañaga said the court orders were fairly routine in a trial like Pierce’s.
“The sealing of materials related to attorney work products and to areas such as expert witnesses happens all the time,” he said.
Also, Larrañaga said the motion to seal documents and keep officials from releasing information had a sunset at the end of the trial.
“It’s limited in duration and will be released [when the trial is over],” he said.
Dalzell said that, even if the documents are released later, the current order still limits the county’s ability to plan ahead financially, as there has been no accountability and no oversight to fees being accrued for Pierce’s trial at the public’s expense.
“The county has been asked to write a blank check,” she said.
“I personally have never had to deal with a court order telling elected officials to ignore their public duty.”
Dalzell said the motions will not delay Pierce from seeing his day in court.
The Yarrs were found dead in their home March 19, the day after a fire destroyed the house. Investigators said the Yarrs had not died from the fire, and that the flames were intentionally set.
Pierce was arrested March 23.
More than 700 people, including drivers of about 100 log trucks who formed a convoy, mourned the Yarrs during a memorial service at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in April, with the 60-year-old Patrick Yarr, and his wife, Janice Kay, 57, described as “icons” in the timber industry.
________
Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
