PORT ANGELES — Kendell K. Huether, the Port Angeles woman accused of helping her boyfriend hide the body of a developmentally disabled woman after he allegedly strangled her last October, was released from jail on her own recognizance Tuesday to live with her brother until her trial.
Huether, 25, is charged with first-degree rendering criminal assistance and two counts of witness tampering in connection with the death of Jennifer Pimentel, 27.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Ken Williams signed an order releasing Huether to her brother, a Clallam Bay Corrections Center corrections officer who lives in Port Angeles, in lieu of $100,000 bail Tuesday.
She was ordered to abide by a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew and comply with any dependency orders regarding her children.
“If she violates any of the terms of the court’s orders, I will immediately inform the authorities so she can be taken back into custody,” Huether’s bother, Eric Huether, wrote in court papers last month.
Defense attorney Karen Unger filed a motion to hire a doctor to evaluate Kendell Huether’s competency to stand trial.
Williams on Tuesday reset the Feb. 28 trial date to April 16.
Port Angeles police alleged that Huether’s boyfriend, Kevin A. Bradfield, 22, strangled Pimentel to death at Huether’s residence Oct. 9.
Bradfield is charged with second-degree murder with an exceptional sentence that would give a judge the option of imposing a life sentence should he be convicted by a jury.
Pimentel’s body was discovered Oct. 19 in a woody area near the Hood Canal Bridge in East Jefferson County.
Bradfield is being held in the Clallam County jail in lieu of $1 million bond.
Prosecutors added the witness-tempering charges to Kendell Huether’s case after two men told investigators that she asked them to lie about seeing Pimentel alive after the victim’s disappearance.
The witnesses said they did not know that Pimentel was dead at the time of their original police interviews.
In December, Bradfield’s trial was reset for March 5 to allow more time for DNA testing.
Pimentel was staying with Kendell Huether, a childhood friend, at the time of her death.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
