Rick Riffe waits to make an appearance in Lewis County Superior Court for a pre-trial hearing on child rape charges April 24 at the Lewis County Law and Justice Center in Chehalis.
Rick Riffe makes an appearance in Lewis County Superior Court for a pre-trial hearing on child rape charges on Thursday afternoon at the Lewis County Law and Justice Center in Chehalis. The trial, which is unrelated to his recent conviction in the 1985 Maurin murders, is scheduled to start Thursday.
Convicted murderer Rick Riffe is back in Lewis County and scheduled to go to trial next week for a decades-old rape case.
Riffe appeared in Lewis County Superior Court Thursday afternoon for a trial confirmation hearing. His attorney, however, did not.
Riffe’s lawyer, John Crowley, spoke to the court via telephone, because he is in the middle of a high-profile murder case in Benton County in Eastern Washington.
Riffe had been transported from the Department of Corrections back to the Lewis County Jail earlier this week. Riffe is already serving a 103-year prison sentence for the 1985 murders, robberies and kidnapping of Ed and Minnie Maurin. A jury found him guilty on all counts last November.
When the Seattle-based defense attorney explained to Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt that he had yet another murder trial in Yakima County next week, and began to request that Riffe’s trial be delayed again, the judge interrupted him.
“We’ve gone way, way out of the way to reserve dates for you,” Hunt told him.
The judge had very terse words for Crowley, and told him he was not willing to push the trial back.
Crowley’s absence was not unexpected, neither was his attempt to delay the trial. In hearings linked to the 1985 cold-case homicide, Crowley frequently showed up late, not at all, or requested court hearings be delayed.
Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer told the judge during the short hearing that a plea deal had been offered to Riffe through his attorney. Crowley, however, said he had not had an opportunity to meet with Riffe and explain it to him.
Hunt gave the defense attorney two options: Take the plea agreement or appear in court next Thursday for the trial, which is expected to last a few days.
“This case is set to begin Thursday and you’re expected to be here,” Hunt told Crowley over the phone.
Despite Riffe’s century-long prison sentence for the murders, Meyer said previously his office plans to pursue the rape case since Riffe is appealing his murder convictions and sentence. Both in turn will be reviewed by a court of appeals, meaning that the jury’s decision may not be final.
Riffe filed a notice of indigency last December, which means the cost of his appeal will be covered by the state.
The former Alaska man was charged in February 2013, several months after his July 2012 arrest, with indecent liberties and child rape in connection with the sexual abuse of a family member in 1984. The alleged sexual abuse was unrelated to the cold-case murders.
The charging documents state that the victim was 9 years old at the time of the first alleged rape and that it occurred sometime in November 1984 when she was living with Riffe.
The second alleged sexual assault occurred on April 28, 1986, when the victim was 10 years old, according to court documents.
The alleged rapes were investigated at the time, but charges were never filed.
