PORT TOWNSEND — The daughters of a slain Jefferson County couple tearfully recalled their final conversations with their parents, Patrick and Janice Yarr, as testimony opened Thursday in the trial of accused double-murderer Michael J. Pierce.
Michele Ham of Port Hadlock and Patty Waters of Portland, Ore., were among the 11 witnesses who testified in Jefferson County Superior Court as the prosecution began building its case against Pierce, who turns 35 on Saturday.
Testimony will resume at 9 a.m. Monday.
The trial is expected to last three to four weeks in the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser on the third floor of the county courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St., Port Townsend.
Prosecutors said that nearly one year ago, on March 18, Pierce shot Patrick Yarr, 60, and Janice Yarr, 57, at point-blank range in the back of the head, stole their debit card and PIN code, and then torched their home on Boulton Farm Road north of Quilcene in a robbery gone bad.
Living in Sequim
At the time of his arrest 10 days later, Pierce was living in both Sequim and Quilcene, said Pierce’s lawyer, county Public Defender Richard Davies, during the noon recess.
Pierce stayed with his girlfriend in Sequim while he attended automotive classes at Peninsula College in Port Angeles and sometimes lived in Quilcene with his mother, Davies said.
As the 90-minute noon break began, Pierce, dressed in dark suit and tie, turned and stared for several seconds at about two dozen spectators who were slowly filing out of the courtroom.
He faces life in prison if convicted on two counts of murder and arson, along with robbery, burglary, theft of a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm and theft.
Pierce has 27 prior offenses, including hit-and-run, assault, burglary and possession of stolen property.
In his opening statement on Wednesday before the nine-woman, three-man jury — and three alternates — Davies asserted the prosecution’s case is thin and said jurors should look behind assertions of his client’s guilt. He’s being assisted by Port Townsend lawyer James Gilmore.
On Thursday, Jefferson County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Scott Rosekrans, assisted by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Chris Ashcraft, began his case by putting Ham and Waters on the stand.
They are among 96 names on Rosekrans’ witness list, possibly 50 of whom Rosekrans said may testify.
Patrick Yarr was a well-known, self-employed logger who hired himself out to small developers, Ham said.
Using his own equipment, he cleared small parcels and loaded, hauled and sold the lumber to mills on the North Olympic Peninsula, Ham said.
He also owned about 90 head of cattle.
Janice Yarr was a bookkeeper.
Saw mother on birthday
Ham said Thursday that the last time she saw her mother was exactly a year ago, on her 57th birthday.
The last time she talked to her mother was the afternoon she was murdered, when Ham told her mother that her husband’s father had died.
In typical fashion, her mother comforted her, Ham said.
“She was always like that,” Ham said, wiping away tears. “She consoled me and listened to me.”
Waters said Patrick Yarr owned several shotguns and rifles, at least one of which was in plain view.
Yarr would use that gun to shoot coyotes, Waters said.
She began to cry when she testified that she last talked to her mother by cell phone at 6:09 p.m. the night she was killed.
Her mother wanted to make sure Waters talked to her sister about her father-in-law’s death, Waters said.
Little more than two hours after that conversation, a house fire was reported at the Yarrs’ 780 Boulton Farm Road residence north of Lake Leland, according to the Sheriff’s Office incident report.
Most of the remaining testimony on Thursday was from Quilcene-area residents who were unable to get in touch with Patrick Yarr in the hours before his murder and those who saw the fire and reported it, as well as from firefighters who fought the blaze and firefighters who discovered the Yarrs’ bodies.
Firefighters’ testimony
Firefighters testified the fire was concentrated in the area of the house that included the carport and an adjoining kitchen-dining room.
Port Ludlow firefighter Rodney Gregory trained a laser pointer on a screen set up for the jury to describe the area in the kitchen-dining room where, he said, “I saw what appeared to be a fire victim,” and then pointed it to another spot “where I saw what appeared to be another fire victim.”
Brian Tracer, Sheriff’s Office chief civil deputy and a fire investigator, said authorities obtained a search warrant and entered the house at about 10 a.m. or 11 a.m. the following day.
They scrubbed themselves with soap and water to maintain the integrity of the scene, crawled into the structure on their hands and knees to take care that they disturbed little and began loading debris in five-gallon buckets, depositing the pieces in a pile outside the house, Tracer said.
“Fall-down material was on the bodies and around them,” he said.
The prosecution will continue developing its case Monday with testimony from the county Coroner’s Office and State Patrol crime lab, Rosekrans said.
Employees of the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also on Rosekrans’ witness list.
Defense witnesses will testify when the prosecution finishes presenting its case.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
