[1]Sherry Tibbetts, the woman Riffe has been with for 24 years in Alaska, waits to make sure he sees her before leaving the courtroom this afternoon; with her son Jeremy Kern. Tibbetts was kept out of the courtroom until now because she was listed as a witness.
Updated at 8:21 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – After arguments, motions and rulings this morning without the jury, murder defendant Ricky Riffe’s lawyer told the jury his client instructed him not to put on any defense witnesses.
Prosecutors rested their case just before 11 a.m., and Seattle-based attorney John Crowley stood up and announced to the courtroom:
“Mr. Riffe has directed the defense to call no witnesses and rest our case,” Crowley said. “On behalf of Rick Riffe, we rest our case.”
Then Crowley sat down.
The abrupt conclusion of the weeks-long witness testimony portion of the trial set the stage for closing arguments to begin tomorrow morning.
[2]Ricky Allen Riffe
Riffe, 55, is charged in Lewis County Superior Court with numerous offenses in connection with the December 1985 shotgun deaths of Ed and Minnie Maurin, an elderly couple from Ethel. He and his now-deceased younger brother have been the prime suspects since the early 1990s but he was only arrested last year.
Based on conversation by the court about scheduling, Lewis County prosecutors will take several hours tomorrow for closing, summarizing what they think the evidence has shown.
Then the following morning, Crowley will offer his closing arguments. Prosecutors get the last word with counter arguments and then the jury can be sent to begin deliberations.
The jury was given a long break until after lunch.
Outside the presence of the jury this morning, the judge heard arguments on the previously filed defense motion for prosecutorial conduct, regarding the jailhouse snitch who denied on the witness stand he got anything in exchange for his testimony against Riffe.
The judge had harsh words for both Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead and Crowley
Crowley argued it should lead to a mistrial or dismissal and to disqualify Halstead.
He told the judge the incident deprived his client of a fair trial and that also prosecutors had concealed from him there was a plea deal in place with Erwin Bartlett by not sharing the documentation during the discovery process.
“He was perjuring himself and the prosecutor knew he was perjuring himself at that point, and what the prosecutor didn’t know is we knew,” Crowley said.
Judge Richard Brosey said he could only dismiss if there was no other recourse, but that in the case of Bartlett, by the time the jury heard Crowley’s cross examination and Bartlett’s attorney was put on the stand to verify what occurred, it should have been very clear to the jury there was a deal.
The judge suggested the proper channel for the complaint was not through himself, but through the bar association.
On the matter of Crowley emailing prosecutors that he would not file the motion if they would stipulate to certain other matters, Brosey was equally blunt.
“It sure looks to me like that’s extortion Mr. Crowley,” Brosey said. “How do you explain that any other way?”
“All we were trying to do is get them to stipulate to the truth of the matter,” Crowley said.
Before the jury was brought back in, Crowley made a separate oral motion for dismissal of all charges, stating there hadn’t been enough evidence presented.
The judge denied the motion.
Riffe is charged with two counts each of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree robbery, as well as one count of burglary; all either as the principal player or as an accomplice.
Numerous aggravating circumstances are alleged including particularly vulnerable victims and deliberate cruelty.
Prosecutors are leaving room for a variety of possible scenarios.
Halstead told the judge that since there were no eyewitnesses, and nobody knows exactly what occurred, it was possible the jury could conclude whoever drove the Maurins up Stearns Hill Road and shot them, whether it was Greg Riffe or Ricky Riffe, that the killing was not premeditated.
He asked for a jury instruction which would allow jurors to find Riffe guilty of second-degree murder instead of first-degree.
The judge said he would allow the so-called lesser included offense to be contemplated by the jury, noting it was unusual for the state to be proposing it, as such an instruction usually it would be sought by the defense and the state would oppose it.
Judge Brosey read to the jury the lengthy list of jury instructions.
The jury was also read a list of stipulations, facts agreed to by both sides to be placed in the record for jury consideration in lieu of live testimony.
The following are among them:
• Rick Riffe and Robin Giddings married in Reno, Nevada on Jan. 5, 1985
• They two divorced in 1991.
• Robin Riffe died of natural causes in 1994 in Washington state.
• Rick Riffe was convicted of a felony in 1981, and could not legally possess firearms until at least 1986.
Closing statements are expected to begin at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.
The trial is open to the public. The courtroom is on the fourth floor of the Lewis County Law and Justice Center at Main Street and Chehalis Avenue in Chehalis.
[3]Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer defends his senior deputy prosecutor to the judge in court this morning.