PORT TOWNSEND — Closing arguments and jury instructions from Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser were wrapping up today, and the jury deciding Jefferson County’s first double-murder trial will likely begin deliberations Thursday.
Earlier report:
PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County’s first double-murder trial is expected to go to the jury today.
After two weeks of testimony heavy with prosecution witnesses, jurors are slated to hear closing arguments this morning in the trial of Peninsula College student Michael J. Pierce before retreating to a jury room to decide his fate, which could include life in prison.
Pierce, 35, is charged killing Patrick Yarr, 60, and his wife, Janice, 57, on March 18, 2009, before robbing them and setting afire their house north of Lake Leland.
The Yarrs were each shot in the head with a high-velocity rifle, which Pat Yarr owned, according to trial testimony.
County Prosecuting Attorney Juelie Dalzell said Tuesday it’s the only double-murder trial ever in Jefferson County’s history.
Today’s proceedings begin at 9 a.m. in the second-floor courtroom of Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser at the Jefferson County Courthouse, 820 Jefferson St., Port Townsend.
Pierce is charged with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder, two counts of robbery, and single counts of burglary, arson, theft of a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm and identity theft.
At the close of testimony Tuesday, Verser said he expects to read to the nine-woman, three-man jury about 45 pages of instructions outlining the jury’s options, which he said will take about an hour.
After the instructions, county Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Scott Rosekrans and county Public Defender Richard Davies, director of Jefferson Associated Counsel, will make their closing arguments.
Each will take about an hour, they said Tuesday.
“Hopefully, the jury will get this about lunchtime” today, Rosekrans said in an interview.
The trial began March 10 and was followed by six days of testimony from 38 prosecution witnesses until Davies presented his case Tuesday.
He offered more than three hours of testimony from six witnesses before resting his case after consulting with Pierce, who did not testify.
“I think we established our case during the state’s case,” Davies said in an interview as the courtroom emptied for the day.
Davies’ witness list had included three investigators, an FBI digital evidence lab worker, a canine handler and a forensic science consultant.
On Tuesday, Davies relied mostly on investigator Greg Walsh, who suggested possible links between the crime and Tommy Boyd of Quilcene, whom police removed as a suspect after taking a sample of his DNA and receiving his statement.
Pierce had told police he was at the home of a man whose last name begins with “B” — he wouldn’t say more — when the man went to the Yarrs’ house the night of the murders and returned covered with blood.
Walsh said Tuesday that when he interviewed Boyd, who lives in a 23-foot Winnebago without utilities, that he found “a number of fuel containers” around the motor home and a sawed-off shotgun, which he said is illegal to own, in a trailer on the property.
“The trauma to the Yarrs suggested this could have been the potential weapon,” said Walsh, a paramedic who, he said, has “dealt with hundreds and hundreds of shootings and shooting victims.”
But Rosekrans countered that high-velocity slugs were found in the floor beneath the Yarrs’ bodies and that it’s not unusual for people who live in motor homes to have fuel containers around to power generators and lanterns.
“You’re not making a value judgment on Tommy Boyd because he has a bunch of fuel containers around his camper, are you”? Rosekrans demanded.
“You’re not making a value judgment on someone because of the way they live?”
Davies also attacked the Rosekrans’ assertion that robbery was Pierce’s motive in killing the Yarrs.
Pierce was arrested with nearly $4,000 in cash in his possession.
But Janice Carter of Bank of America in Port Angeles said he cashed a $3,940.12 check that same day, and Krista Francis, director of Peninsula College, said Pierce was receiving financial aid for school — $14,687 for five semesters for tuition and living expenses.
Pierce is an automotive technology student.
Rosekrans said after Tuesday’s court session that his strongest piece of evidence was likely the Yarrs’ debit card.
Police said that video photos of a man using the card at an ATM the night the Yarr’s were killed were Pierce.
Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives photography expert Todd Reeves had testified he had a “high degree of confidence” the man was Pierce.
Rosekrans also had linked Pierce with a kitchen block and knives that the Yarrs’ daughters, Michele Ham of Port Hadlock and Patty Waters of Portland, Ore., had said belonged to their parents but which Pierce’s mother Ila Rettig of Quilcene and girlfriend, Tiffany Rondeau of Sequim, said belonged to Pierce and Rondeau.
There was no DNA or evidence of blood linking Pierce to the murders, though Pamela Roberts of Quilcene testified she saw a large person who resembled Pierce walking on the road near the Yarrs’ home at about 7:45 p.m. March 18, about 35 minutes before the fire was reported.
The man hid his face from her, she said.
Pierce’s drivers’ license lists him as weighing 240 pounds and standing 6-feet-tall.
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Senior Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
