PORT ORCHARD –– A decision on whether charges against accused double-murderer Michael J. Pierce will be dropped or proceed is expected by next Friday, Sept. 26.
Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Sally Olsen said Wednesday she would issue a written decision after a hearing, which took parts of four days, on a defense motion to drop the charges because jailers stopped administering Pierce’s psychotropic medication during a March retrial.
The hearing began last Friday.
“This case should be over,” Pierce’s attorney, Richard Davies, said during his closing arguments.
Davies argued that Pierce, 38, Quilcene had his rights violated by policies set in place by Conmed, the firm with which Kitsap County contracts its jail’s mental health services.
Davies said the firm “played chicken with Mr. Pierce’s mental health” by letting a 14-day “bridge” prescription for anti-psychotics expire during a retrial on charges he killed Quilcene farm couple Pat and Janice Yarr in 2009.
After discovering medications were denied Pierce from March 7-10, Olsen ruled his right to a fair trial had been “impossibly infringed” and declared a mistrial.
Chris Ashcraft, Jefferson County’s chief deputy prosecutor, agreed Conmed staff erred.
“The reason we are here is that two nurses who are employed by Conmed made a mistake,” Ashcraft said.
“Mr. Pierce is trying to take advantage of those mistakes so that he doesn’t have to face a jury.
“Mr. Pierce can still get a fair trial.”
A Jefferson County jury convicted Pierce of two counts of first-degree murder as well as one count each of first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery, first-degree arson, theft of a firearm, second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and second-degree theft in 2010.
He was serving a life sentence in prison when the state Court of Appeals overturned the conviction in 2012.
Pierce has been tried two times since, once in Jefferson County and once in Kitsap County, with both ending in mistrials.
If Olsen denies the defense motion, the third retrial is scheduled to begin Oct. 9 in Kitsap County Superior Court.
“Even if this comes out how we think it’s going to turn out, just the thought of having to go back and hear again how their lives were taken and all those details is just devastating,” said Michelle Ham, one of the Yarrs’ daughters, who has been present throughout the dismissal hearing.
“But I’m going to be cautious with this. If I’ve learned one thing from this process, it’s not to make any predictions,” she added.
Wednesday’s hearing was scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. with Pierce appearing via Internet video feed.
That feed could not be established, however, and the hearing resumed at 1 p.m. after Pierce was transported from the Jefferson County jail to the Kitsap County courtroom.
Pierce’s original conviction was overturned by the state Court of Appeals on the grounds that his constitutional rights were denied after his arrest and that Prosecuting Attorney Scott Rosekrans’ closing argument in the original trial represented prosecutorial misconduct.
After an investigation, the Washington State Bar Association later cleared Rosekrans of ethical violations for speculating during closing arguments what the Yarrs and Pierce were thinking during the night of the murders.
After a Jefferson County retrial ended when a juror recalled seeing a man who resembled Pierce walking on U.S. Highway 101 around the date of the murders, the trial was moved to Kitsap County.
Pierce arrived at the Kitsap County jail for the retrial in February and was given a 14-day “bridge” prescription for anti-psychotic medications he has taken since he was 8 years old.
Medications were stopped March 7 after the “bridge” prescription expired.
Dr. Kapil Chopra, a psychiatrist from Sound Mental Health who contracts with Conmed to serve the Kitsap County jail, testified he did not know that until a mental health assessment with Pierce on March 11.
Davies argued that failure to administer the prescriptions warrants dismissal.
“There does not need to be evil intent,” he said. “Simple mismanagement is sufficient.”
Ashcraft argued that the Jefferson County Prosecutor’s Office should not be responsible for the actions of Conmed’s staff, saying they were “too far removed from the state.”
He asked that Olsen “not dismiss this on procedural grounds because of a mistake by two nurses who had nothing to do with the prosecution at all.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
