By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The trial in the 1985 Maurin kidnap and murder case has been postponed once again, from this coming February until May, with what the judge calls a “drop dead” date to begin.
The elderly Ethel couple died in December 1985, but the longtime suspect Ricky A. Riffe was only arrested this summer.
[1]Ricky A. Riffe
Lawyers on both sides met with a judge two weeks ago to address a number of issues, including defense attorney John Crowley’s concerns the prosecution had still not handed over copies of all its information in the case.
Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer repeatedly said he’s turned over everything they have, but by the end of the hour, Judge Richard Brosey ordered Meyer to get the other side copies of some 30 taped interviews, copies of photographs, a copy of a computer hard drive, and to do more to track down a witness statement that Crowley asked about.
“I only want to do this once,” Brosey said, alluding to the fact that if the prosecution gets a conviction, but errors are made along the way, a re-trial could be ordered by the appeals court.
Also at issue is a timing conflict with a trial for another of Crowley’s clients.
Meyer expressed his previous concern that witnesses could die before they get a chance to testify.
“The fact is, we have 150 witnesses in this case, and they’re not getting any younger,” Meyer told the judge.
The trial could take as long as four weeks.
Riffe, 54, a former Lewis County resident, was arrested in July at his home in Alaska.
Prosecutors believe Riffe and his since-deceased brother abducted Ed and Wilhelmina Maurin and forced them to withdraw money from their bank in Chehalis before shooting them and dumping their bodies near Adna.
Riffe has pleaded not guilty, but remains held in the Lewis County Jail on $5 million bail.
A review hearing is scheduled for Dec. 19, the anniversary of the day 27 years ago the couple was reported missing.
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For background, read “Maurin homicide: Riffe pleads not guilty, his attorney hints at proof” from Thursday August 23, 2012, here [2]