Rick Riffe, left, stands as the jury leaves the court room while his defense attorney, John Crowley, looks on during Riffe's double-homicide trial in Lewis County Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon at the Lewis County Law and Justice Center in Chehalis. The prosecution rested its case on Tuesday morning, Crowley then followed by resting the defense's case without calling any witnesses. The jury will receive instructions on Tuesday afternoon, prior to the prosecution giving its final arguments on Wednesday. Crowley will then give his final arguments on Thursday morning.
Rick Riffe, left, and his defense attorney, John Crowley, speak after they rested Riffe's double-homicide case without calling one witness in Lewis County Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon at the Lewis County Law and Justice Center in Chehalis. The prosecution rested its case against Riffe Tuesday morning as well.
Double-homicide suspect Rick Riffe’s defense attorney announced Tuesday morning that he will call no witnesses to testify in Riffe’s defense.
“Mr. Riffe has instructed me to call no witnesses,” John Crowley, Riffe’s defense attorney, told the jury.
Crowley’s unexpected announcement came moments after the prosecution told the jury it was resting its case.
The prosecution presented the 12 jurors and five alternates with 90 witnesses and five full weeks of testimony.
Crowley told Judge Richard Brosey last week that he intended to call three or four witnesses, and that the testimony would likely last three days. Prior to the start of the trial, Crowley said his client intended to testify in his own defense.
Rick Riffe is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, or in the alternative second-degree murder, two counts of first-degree kidnapping, two counts of first-degree robbery as well as first-degree burglary in relation to the deaths of Ed and Minnie Maurin in 1985. Prosecutors allege Rick Riffe and his now-deceased brother John Riffe abducted the elderly Ethel couple from their home and forced them to withdraw money from a Chehalis bank before murdering them.
Closing arguments for the prosecution are expected to last four hours and will begin Wednesday morning. Following the prosecutor’s closing arguments, the jury will be sent home for the day and will return Thursday morning for the defense’s closing arguments. The prosecution will then have an opportunity to address the jury one final time before the jury is sent to deliberations.
Many jurors have multiple legal pads filled with notes. The jury will also have more than 1,000 pieces of evidence to look over during deliberations.
Prior to prosecutors resting their case Tuesday morning, Brosey ruled against Crowley’s motion to remove Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead from the case and to dismiss the charges against Riffe.
The motion, filed by Crowley Friday morning, alleged that Halstead committed prosecutorial misconduct by being involved in a plea agreement with one of the witnesses who testified against Riffe earlier on in the trial.
Erwin Bartlett told the jury that he was housed in the medical unit with Rick Riffe in the Lewis County Jail and spoke with him through the vent that connected their cells quite a bit. Bartlett, a convicted felon who spent time in prison for attempted murder, told the jury Riffe admitted to the 1985 murders.
Crowley argued that the prosecution did not provide the defense with information about the plea agreement between the state and Bartlett, and that Halstead purposely tried to convince the jury, through Bartlett’s testimony, that there was no consideration given to Bartlett when in fact there was.
Crowley said his case was exceptionally damaged by Bartlett’s testimony, and that he was the state’s most convincing witness the state presented.
“You’re telling me, with a straight face, that Mr. Bartlett is the (prosecution’s) most credible witness?” Brosey asked the defense attorney in obvious disbelief Tuesday.
Very little of Bartlett’s testimony, which continued for hours during the third week of trial, revolved around what Riffe allegedly told him. Instead, a large portion of it was spent on Bartlett’s credibility.
Bartlett testified he told investigators about Riffe’s alleged confession after he was caught trying to smuggle a pill bottle full of medication in his butt into the jail in hopes of gaining leniency.
Bartlett, however, specifically dodged questions posed by the defense attorney about if he already received consideration in exchange for his testimony.
The convicted felon claimed he did not remember the specifics of a plea agreement, and even though Halstead, who handled the case against Bartlett, knew about the agreement, he did not specifically ask Bartlett about it during his testimony.
“It was obviously perjured testimony,” Crowley said Tuesday, later adding, “I think Mr. Riffe has been deprived of a fair trial.”
Brosey ultimately disagreed, ruling that whatever confusion Bartlett’s testimony caused the jury was remedied by the testimony of David Arcuri, who was Bartlett’s public defender.
Last week when the jury was sent out of the courtroom and Crowley announced his intention to file a motion of prosecutorial misconduct, Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer brought Crowley’s “threatening” email to the attention of the judge.
The email, sent by Crowley to the lead prosecutor, said he would not file the motion of prosecutorial misconduct if the prosecution would agree to a stipulation regarding the testimony of Nonna Pierce, a neighbor of the Maurins who testified she saw a man, later identified as Rick Riffe, in the neighborhood the day before the murders.
Crowley said Pierce’s testimony at trial was inconsistent with what she told police in the days following the murder. The stipulation, which the prosecution did not agree to, would have told the jury that she originally told police the man she picked out of the photo montage was in the neighborhood a week or two before the murders, not the day before.
Meyer argued Tuesday that Crowley already had the opportunity to cross examine Pierce.
“All we’re wanting is truthful testimony,” Crowley said. “Period.”
Meyer told the judge the email was a threat, and nothing more than that. Brosey agreed.
“That’s extortion, Mr. Crowley,” Brosey said.
