Port Townsend: Judge in murder trial to stay; prosecutors list witnesses

PORT TOWNSEND — The judge presiding over the Ryan Neil Sorensen murder case again says he won’t step aside.

Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Majhan affirmed a ruling at a Friday hearing, saying that the Sorensen defense attorney’s request to have another judge is untimely.

Sorensen, 30, is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly shooting to death 62-year-old Frank M. “Skip” Smith Jr. at Smith’s Port Hadlock business, Smith’s Services Towing.

Investigators say that Sorensen shot Smith 25 times using two 9 mm handguns.

Sorensen, of Spanish Fork, Utah, was Smith’s former son-in-law. He was married to Shawna-Kay Smith from 1996 to 2002.

Prosecutors in the case submitted a list of witnesses they plan to call to the stand during the trial for first-degree murder this fall.

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The rest of the story appears in the Tuesday Peninsula Daily News Jefferson County edition. Click on SUBSCRIBE, above, to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.

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