By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The trial for Ricky Allen Riffe in the 1985 kidnapping and fatal shooting of Ed and Wilhelmina Maurin of Ethel is going to take at least two weeks and possibly three, according to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office.
Attorneys and the defendant went in front of a judge yesterday briefly to review the status of the case and reschedule the trial.
Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead said he has in excess of 100 witnesses, some from out of state.
Riffe, 53, was arrested in July at his home in Alaska in the old case.
Prosecutors believe the former Lewis County man and his brother abducted the elderly couple and forced them to withdraw money from their bank in Chehalis before shooting them and dumping their bodies near Adna.
Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey will preside.
Halstead has turned over more than 12,000 pages of discovery to the defense and asked Brosey yesterday to remind Seattle-based attorney John Crowley the rules for sharing evidence apply to both sides.
Halstead noted media reports in which Crowley said he spoke with a witness who could help his client’s case.
Crowley only replied the timely turning over of documents and such applies to witnesses one intends to call upon during trial.
The defense attorney said the trial was moved from October to the week of November 5 because there is so much material for him to wade through.
Outside the courtroom, he said he’s found more good news for his client as he’s studied the materials
“One thing I didn’t know is there’s a witness who confessed, or a suspect who confessed,” Crowley said. “In a handwritten note to his wife.”
Riffe has pleaded not guilty. His younger brother John Gregory Riffe died earlier this summer of ill health before charges were filed.
Wilhelmina Maurin, also known as “Minnie”, was 83, her husband was 81 years old.
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For background, read “Maurin homicide: Riffe pleads not guilty, his attorney hints at proof” from Thursday August 23, 2012, here [1]