PORT TOWNSEND — Plans for a second try at a retrial of Michael J. Pierce on double-murder charges have been outlined in Jefferson County Superior Court as attorneys laid the groundwork for a venue change to Kitsap County.
A hearing in Kitsap County Superior Court is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Sept. 20. A trial date may be set then.
Kitsap County Superior Court is located at 614 Division St. in Port Orchard.
This will be preceded by a hearing at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 13 in Jefferson County Superior Court in the county courthouse at 1820 Jefferson St., where Judge Keith Harper will rule on any remaining pretrial motions.
“If we can resolve these matters sooner than later, then the process will go more smoothly,” Harper said during a hearing Friday.
Pierce, 38, is accused of killing Pat and Janice Yarr of Quilcene and setting their house afire to hide the deaths March 18, 2009.
A Jefferson County jury convicted Pierce in 2010 of two counts of first-degree murder, and Pierce was serving a life sentence in Walla Walla State Penitentiary when the state Court of Appeals reversed the conviction on a technicality July 17, 2012.
A retrial in Jefferson County that began last month ended in a mistrial after a juror recalled that she may have seen Pierce walking by the side of U.S. Highway 101 one evening, though she could not recall the exact date.
Harper granted a joint motion from the prosecution and defense for the mistrial July 22 and approved a change of venue to Kitsap County, a move that had been requested earlier by defense counsel.
Pierce remains in the Jefferson County jail.
The trial will proceed with the same attorney teams: Scott Rosekrans and Chris Ashcraft as prosecutors, and Richard Davies for the defense.
A Kitsap County Superior Court judge, so far undetermined, will preside over the trial.
Jurors will be selected from a pool of Kitsap County citizens who will not have previous knowledge about the trial, both the defense and prosecution hope.
Harper said he would have liked to preside over the trial, but his traveling to Kitsap County would result in additional expenses to get a Kitsap judge to swap duties.
The exchange also would increase administrative costs, he said.
Members of the Yarr family were in the courtroom during the hearing.
The Yarrs’ daughters, Michele Ham and Patricia Waters, testified during both the original 2010 trial and the July mistrial.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
