PORT TOWNSEND — The jury in Michael J. Pierce’s double-murder trial had a general sense from the onset of its deliberations, which began Thursday, that Pierce murdered Patrick and Janice Yarr on March 18, 2009, presiding juror Eric Nagy of Port Hadlock said after Friday’s verdict.
“There was a sense of, this is the individual that did it,” Nagy said late Friday afternoon, two hours after the nine women and three men rendered judgment on the 35-year-old Peninsula College student. “That happened probably sometime [Thursday] afternoon, probably after lunch sometime.”
But did Pierce kill one of he Yarrs by accident with a high-velocity rifle and the second victim to cover the crime?
The jury’s lack of certainty on that score led the jury to convict Pierce of two counts of first-degree murder rather than the other option they had — find him guilty of two counts of premeditated, or intentional, murder, Nagy said.
“A few of the jurors were uncomfortable not knowing which one was killed first, whether it was by accident,” Nagy said.
“The jury felt that perhaps [Pierce] wasn’t comfortable with the trigger as a murder weapon and it slipped, that he was nervous holding it over one of the two heads,” he said.
“We couldn’t be sure if it was. Because we didn’t know which one was killed first, we didn’t know if it was intentional.”
After hearing two weeks of testimony from 44 witnesses, the Jefferson County Superior Court jury deliberated 13 hours before convicting Pierce of two murders and six other charges.
Damning testimony
Damning factors that worked against Pierce included him asking prosecution witness Michael Donahue a few hours after the brutal slayings whether Pierce smelled of gasoline and Pierce’s positive identification in a bank ATM video using the Yarrs’ debit card, Nagy and fellow juror Ronald Hall of Port Hadlock said in separate telephone interviews.
The panel decided Pierce shot Patrick Yarr, 60, and Janice Yarr, 57, in the head, robbed them of their bank debit card and burned their Boulton Road home north of Lake Leland by using what prosecution experts had testified was an accelerant such as gasoline.
Donahue’s testimony regarding Pierce’s question about the odor of gasoline was key to Hall deciding Pierce was guilty, Hall said.
Donahue was at the motor-home domicile of Tommy Boyd in Quilcene at about 9 p.m. March 19 when Pierce walked in noticeably smelling as though he had just showered, Donahue had testified.
That was about 40 minutes after the fire at the Yarrs’ home was reported and about 50 minutes after Pierce was recorded in a U.S. Bank-Quilcene branch ATM video using what the prosecution said was the Yarrs’ debit card.
The prosecution argued Pierce withdrew $300 for meth that he wanted to buy from Boyd.
“Michael Pierce asked Donahue if Michael Pierce smelled like gas,” Hall said. “That’s a damning piece of evidence right there.”
Hall said two other jurors said they “picked up” on the same testimony.
“I thought I was the only one who had it,” Hall added.
There was no evidence of DNA or blood that placed Pierce directly at the scene, but the fact that Pierce had the Yarrs’ PIN number in effect put him there, debunking Pierce’s statement to police that a man whose last name began with “B” actually committed the murders and robbery, Hall said.
“Why would someone give him the credit card and give him the PIN number if they just committed a murder?” Hall asked.
The police eliminated Tommy Boyd as a suspect, according to testimony.
Nagy said that Pierce’s girlfriend, Tiffany Rondeau of Sequim, and mother, Ila Rettig of Quilcene, were not believable in testimony in which they tried to distance Pierce from the scene of the crimes.
“I did not find any credibility in their testimonies,” Nagy said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
