PORT ANGELES — Kendell K. Huether, the Port Angeles woman accused of helping her boyfriend hide the body of a developmentally disabled woman who was killed 11 months ago, had her trial reset Monday to Nov. 26.
The one-week trial was previously scheduled to begin Monday.
Clallam County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ann Lundwall had an unrelated trial this week, prompting the latest delay.
Huether, 25, is charged with first-degree rendering criminal assistance to accused murderer Kevin A. Bradfield in the death of Jennifer Pimentel, 27.
Huether also is charged two counts of witness tampering for allegedly asking two acquaintances to lie about seeing Pimentel alive after her disappearance.
Investigators said Huether, Pimentel’s childhood friend, stood by as Bradfield strangled Pimentel in a Port Angeles apartment and helped Bradfield hide the body in a wooded area near the Hood Canal Bridge in East Jefferson County.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge George L. Wood reset the trial in a two-minute court hearing Monday.
County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly handled the hearing in Lundwall’s absence.
Huether has been living in the Port Angeles area on electronic home monitoring and abiding by a curfew.
Superior Court Judge Ken Williams signed an order Aug. 20 clarifying Huether’s conditions of release while releasing her from house arrest.
Bradfield, 23, of Port Angeles originally was charged with second-degree murder in Pimentel’s death.
Lundwall sought an exceptional sentence that would give a judge the authority to impose a life sentence if Bradfield was convicted by a jury.
In April, Lundwall upped the charge to first-degree premeditated murder after a Clallam County jail staffer intercepted a letter that “indicated that Bradfield had planned to murder Pimentel to prevent her from accusing Bradfield of rape,” court papers said.
Bradfield is being held in the Clallam County jail on $1 million bond.
His trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 11.
Dozens of Pimentel’s family and friends attended a birthday gathering in her memory Aug. 28 — the day she would have turned 28 — at her gravesite at Ocean View Cemetery in Port Angeles.
They wore purple, Pimentel’s favorite color, and released a cluster of purple balloons in her memory.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345 ext. 5072 or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
