Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

NAPAVINE – The clash between the city and the fire department in Napavine over the department’s rooftop siren continues with the fire chief announcing they will keep using it, despite a new ordinance that says otherwise.

Lewis County Fire District 5 Chief Eric Linn said today it won’t be turned off.

“We haven’t stopped (it). We’re going to continue to use it,” Linn said. “It’s very effective.”

The issue got wide-spread attention when last week the city council voted unanimously to amend the city’s noise ordinance, restricting the siren that sounds when Napavine firefighters get a call.

The move took the fire department by surprise; they hadn’t been notified an ordinance was in the works, according to public information officer Lt. Laura Hanson.

Mayor Nick Bozarth said the move was prompted by the fire department’s “air raid” siren that “broke it’s several-year silence early the next morning following their levy failure in November.”

Linn says reactivating the siren was a response to an increasing number of times his crew’s departures to emergency calls have been delayed by traffic in front of the station.

Bozarth, a volunteer member of the fire department until he was asked to turn in his gear last fall, says the city thinks lights and sirens on the emergency vehicles are sufficient.

In a lengthy memo distributed to the news media today, Linn insinuates the ordinance may not be valid, lays out his case for the public safety reasons for the siren and notes it has a small minority of opposition, despite the big issue it has become in the news media.

“I think there are a few people being very vocal and it’s been picked up by the press,” Linn said.

The chief, who was hired by the fire district’s board of commissioners in June 2009, said he felt it was necessary to outline the situation for the public, through the news media.

“At some point, I’ve got to speak out,” Linn said “Because my crew is taking the brunt of this.”

The chief suggested the city is exaggerating the public’s concerns over the noise, noting the fire district has received only one formal complaint from a citizen and the city has gotten only two formal complaints, both from a council member who is at odds with the department.

Linn points out a list of improvements he’s helped make with the department, an organization he said has seen more than eight fire chiefs in as many years.

Along with increasing the number of volunteer personnel, they have reduced response times on average by two minutes, according to Linn.

Two times in the past two months, firefighter-EMTs have restarted the hearts of patients in cardiac arrest, he said.

“You can’t do that with eight, nine, 10 minute response times,” he said. “The things we’re doing work.”
•••

Read Fire Chief Eric Linn’s memo to the news media here, or by scrolling down

Robert J. Maddaus Jr. sits in front of the judge with his back to a large courtroom audience when the jury returns with its guilty verdicts today.

This was updated at 3:59 p.m. and 5:05 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

OLYMPIA – A jury found Robert J. Maddaus Jr. of Rochester guilty today of first-degree murder and each of the other counts he was charged with.

After the verdict, the mother of his victim, forty-year-old Shaun Peterson, had just four words:

“Justice has been served,” said Judy Peterson of Lacey.

Shaun Allen Peterson

Shaun Peterson was found handcuffed and fatally shot on Capitol Way in Olympia in the early morning of Nov. 16, 2009.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Bruneau laid out evidence over the course of a three-plus week trial that Maddaus forced Peterson to put on handcuffs as Maddaus attempted to find who had robbed his Rochester mobile home of some five pounds of methamphetamine and $30,000 cash. Witnesses said the 41-year-old brought Peterson to an associate’s apartment on Capitol Way and shortly after the men left, five shots rang out in the street.

He is scheduled to be sentenced at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

His lawyer says he will appeal.

“We feel there are a lot of issues for appeal, we’re going to continue on the battle,” Olympia attorney Richard Woodrow said.

How much prison time Maddaus faces is not yet clear, but Bruneau said “a lot.”

“Somewhere between 30 and 50 years,” Bruneau said. “And that’s a conservative estimate.”

The jury of 10 women and two men began deliberations at 1:30 p.m. yesterday, went home for the night and made their decisions by 11:45 this morning.

Maddaus was convicted also of two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and four counts of witness tampering, as well as second-degree assault and attempted kidnapping involving an incident at his home three days before the shooting in which a 25-year-old woman he believed was involved in the theft described being interrogated and shot with a paintball gun.

Peterson’s mother has been present during the trial in Thurston County Superior Court, accompanied at times by Peterson’s sister, his former wife and also Randi Henn who lived with Peterson in Tumwater at the time of his death .

The couple had just had a baby girl the month he was slain. His 12-year-old son was in the courtroom today.

Henn said the trial has been nerve-racking, and she’s glad it’s over. They’re “more than satisfied” with the outcome and the expected prison stay for Maddaus, she said.

“I can’t wait for him to die in there,” Henn said.

Forty-two-year-old David Conn has been sitting in as well. He was jubilant about the verdict.

“Blessings and redemption on Shaun’s soul,” Conn said.

He and Peterson grew up together in on the east side of Olympia.

“We all live in that world and we all make bad choices,” Conn said. “But the fact is, he didn’t deserve what he got.”

Among the witnesses were at least four admitted drug dealers who testified Maddaus was their supplier.

Maddaus denied everything when he testified on his own behalf on Monday, however, he admitted he sold drugs and wanted to find out who had robbed him.

His mother Irene Cudinski saw him for the first time yesterday since November 2009.

The Rochester woman was listed as a witness for the prosecution and as such, was barred from contact with him and from the courtroom until yesterday, she said.

Cudinski was never called to the stand.

She said she otherwise would have attended the proceedings in support of her grown son.

Trina Cristelli, an Elma woman who’s known Maddaus some 20 years, however, did sit through the entire trial beginning on the first day.

Cristelli, who said Maddaus is like a little brother to her, said Maddaus isn’t perfect by a long shot, but he’s not the monster painted by the prosecution.

She said she wouldn’t have been surprised if he was found guilty on some of the counts, but was stunned the jury felt there was enough evidence for murder, beyond a reasonable doubt.

There was no murder weapon, no DNA, no eyewitnesses, she said. Only the testimony from individuals, on both sides, who are in jail and have criminal records, she said.

“My feeling about it was because he was a drug dealer (the jury thought) he was guilty of everything,” she said.

•••

Read yesterday’s news story about the attorney’s closing statements in the trial here

Corrections officers take Robert J. Maddaus Jr. back to the jail after the jury leaves to begin deliberating in his murder trial.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

OLYMPIA – A jury began deliberations today in the shooting death of a handcuffed man in Olympia.

Forty-year-old Shaun Peterson died on Capitol Boulevard early the morning of Nov. 16, 2009.

Robert John Maddaus Jr.

His admitted drug supplier, Robert J. Maddaus Jr. of Rochester, is charged with first-degree murder, witness tampering and other crimes in Thurston County Superior Court.

The prosecution alleges Maddaus believed Peterson broke into his Rochester home and stole some five pounds of methamphetamine and $30,000 cash and that Maddaus then abducted Peterson and shot him outside the apartment of another drug dealer.

The defense claims the shots were actually fired by 30-year-old Matthew Tremblay who was with Maddaus, Peterson and three others at the apartment.

Shaun Allen Peterson

Both Maddaus and Tremblay point to each other as the shooter. No one else but one or both of them and Peterson was outside when he was was killed, according to witness statements.

Police did not find a murder weapon.

“This defendant, ladies and gentlemen, is the only one with motive, the one with the means and the only one who is guilty of murder in the first degree and all the other crimes,”  Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Bruneau said in his closing statements today.

Bruneau summarized testimony that Maddaus told others he would kill whoever stole his drugs, was seen walking out of the apartment armed, became a fugitive after the shooting and then tried to develop an alibi.

Maddaus is charged with first-degree premeditated murder or felony first-degree murder. The second allegation is that while he was committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, he caused Peterson’s death.

Bruneau called Maddaus’s testimony he asked Peterson to put on the handcuffs while in the Lacey Fred Meyer parking lot “poppycock”.

The 41-year-old Rochester man is also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm as well as attempted kidnapping and second-degree assault of a 25-year-old woman days before Peterson’s death; a woman he suspected was involved in the theft.

Defense attorney Richard Woodrow pointed out there is no scientific evidence such as DNA or blood spatter that ties anyone to the crime.

“Another way of looking at this this is this is not a murder first degree, but an accidental shooting by Mr. Tremblay,” Woodrow told jurors today.

The statements by witnesses and proof Mr. Tremblay was the shooter will rise to reasonable doubt, he said.

Woodrow contended all the occupants of the apartment hid from the law until they were arrested, and that Dan Leville, Falyn Grimes and Jesse Rivera had time to put together a “story”.

He pointed out he had witnesses who testified Tremblay told them he did it and it was an accident. And, Woodrow said, the jury heard witnesses who told them the prosecution’s witnesses told them differing accounts.

“They’re all consistent among friends, but what they don’t know is we ferreted out these things,” Woodrow said.

The trial has spread out over four weeks and numerous witnesses testifying about incidents from Olympia, to Tumwater, Lacey, Centralia, Chehalis, Onalaska and Rochester. Also examined during hours of testimony was Maddaus’s quest to find the thief and his week and a half he spent hiding from the law.

However, not answered at all is who stole Maddaus’s drugs nor how it was he replenished his supply after the robbery.

Police found one and three quarter pounds of methamphetamine, nearly a half pound of cocaine and about one-third pound of heroin inside a backpack when Maddaus was captured Nov. 27, 2009 in the Chehalis Industrial Park with former Chehalis resident Robbie Russell.

Also not answered is how many of at least four admitted drug dealers who testified Maddaus was their supplier – or more who were named, including Peterson and Russell – have been charged with selling drugs.

The jury of 10 women and two men were sent home for the evening and expected to resume deliberations tomorrow morning.

•••

Read about:
• Maddaus testifies he didn’t do it, here

• Witnesses point to Maddaus’ friend as shooter, here

• Tremblay testifies Maddaus shot Peterson, here
• Inside the apartment that night, here
• The robbery at Maddaus’s Rochester mobile home, here
• Day one of Maddaus’s trial, here
• Why the first jury pool had to be dismissed, here
• Why Maddaus was convicted of just simple possession in Lewis County last month, here
• How Maddaus refused to testify against Robbie Russell in September, here
• How Russell and Maddaus tried to outrun sheriff’s deputies a week and a half after Peterson’s death, here

Matthew Tremblay is questioned by defense attorney Richard Woodrow last week in Thurston County Superior Court

Robert J. Maddaus Jr. answers questions from his attorney in Judge Christine Pomeroy's courtroom.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

OLYMPIA – Robert J. Maddaus Jr. took the witness stand today and admitted he spent a weekend trying to find who had robbed his Rochester home of drugs and money but denied he suspected Shaun Peterson, denied having a gun and denied shooting Peterson.

Shaun Allen Peterson

The now-41-year-old answered questions in Thurston County Superior Court about the weekend beginning Nov. 13, 2009 and the days after until he was picked up in Chehalis.

His defense attorney Richard Woodrow asked him why he didn’t call the police.

Maddaus suggested he was stalling until police figured out what really happened.

“I knew there was a warrant for my arrest, I was waiting for it to blow over,” Maddaus said. “I mean, come on, they were gonna find out who did it.”

The Rochester man spent about an hour and a half answering questions today. Woodrow asked him directly: “On Nov. 16, 2009, did you kill Shaun Peterson?

“No,” Maddaus said.

“Who did?” Woodrow asked.

“I think Matt Tremblay,” Maddaus said.

Maddaus is on trial for first-degree murder and other charges in the 40-year-old Tumwater man’s death. Peterson was found handcuffed and dying in Olympia on Capitol Boulevard outside a drug dealer’s apartment.

Twelve jurors plus three alternates – consisting of 12 women and three men – began hearing the case on Jan. 12 in Judge Christine Pomeroy’s courtroom.

Some 30 spectators crowded the Olympia courtroom today to hear what Maddaus had to say.

He began by saying he’d known Peterson about six months.

“It started out drugs. I sold him drugs, he got drugs from me,” Maddaus said. “We kind of became friends.”

He spoke of being out with other friends smoking methamphetamine when he got  a call from his mother letting him know his mobile home had been robbed.

While witnesses for the prosecution have described that Maddaus returned home and assaulted a 25-year-old woman staying with him he believed was involved, Maddaus agreed he was suspicious of her, but said he grabbed a can of bear mace she was holding and it accidentally sprayed them both.

The door to the bedroom was kicked in and then, “It clicks, my safe is open, it’s still there,” he said.

“Oh yeah, obviously somebody had the combination,” he said.

He explained he began making phone calls and then, with acquaintances, visiting people over the next three days.

“All kinds of people,” he said. “Everybody I knew in the drug world, or that knew somebody in the drug world, I was trying to contact.”

Maddaus said he went to a house in Tumwater to see a guy who had methamphetamine that looked like his. Jason Juneau said he’d gotten the dope from Robbie Russell so Juneau bought some more from Russell in Chehalis and the two men compared it, he said.

Maddaus said he got a call from someone who said there was a recording of some people talking about robbing somebody.

He, Tremblay and a couple other people listened to it in Lacey, he said.

“Did you recognize any voice?” Woodrow asked.

“No,” Maddaus said.

Maddaus said he wanted to talk with Peterson about it, since the other person sounded like “Fat Nate.” Peterson knew where “Fat Nate” lived, and Maddaus didn’t, he testified.

On the night of Nov. 15, he and Peterson met Tremblay at the Olympia apartment of Daniel Leville and Falyn Grimes to listen again. Tremblay had a better recording of it and they played it over Leville’s speakers, he said.

“When I got there, it was just Dan, Falyn and Jesse,” he said.

The couple wouldn’t let Peterson inside unless he was handcuffed, Maddaus said.

While Jesse Rivera has previously testified he sat in Maddaus’s car in the Lacey Fred Meyer parking lot and watched Maddaus hold a gun to Peterson’s head while telling him to put handcuffs on, Maddaus said today Peterson did not have the handcuffs until after the two arrived at the apartment.

“I’m sure he didn’t love it, but he wanted to clear his name,” Maddaus testified.

Maddaus said he did not have a gun, but he saw Rivera holding a gun inside the apartment.

They were preparing to leave to talk with another person whose voice seemed to be on the recording, he said.

“Shaun said, ‘are you gonna take these cuffs off?’ ” Maddaus said. “I said, as soon as we leave, I will take them off.”

Soon, Peterson went out the door, Maddaus said.

“I heard the commotion, I seen Matt go out,” he said. “I grabbed my cell, me and Dan started heading to the door … Right as I was going to the door, the shots were fired.”

Maddaus said he saw Tremblay running toward his car and saw Peterson stumbling up the street.

“I ran towards Shaun, he fell down before I got to him,” he said.

Tremblay, in Maddaus’s Jetta, drove past him a bit and stopped, Maddaus said. He got in.

Tremblay stalled the car repeatedly, and Maddaus told him to get out, which he did, but then he got in the passenger side, he said.

“I drove to Rochester,” he said.

“Why?” his attorney asked.

“Because I wanted to get out of there,” he said.

“Why didn’t you call the cops?” Woodrow asked.

“I don’t call cops,” he said. “When you’re in my world, it’s the worst thing you can do.”

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Bruneau spent about 40 minutes cross examining Maddaus.

He focused on conversations Maddaus had after that night with a tattoo artist and drug dealer Theodore Farmer, contemplating getting help with an alibi.

Maddaus agreed with Bruneau that he hid out at friend’s and motels, wore a long wig and arranged to have his Jetta painted. He admitted that he acquired the handcuffs and that he sold drugs.

Maddaus agreed with Bruneau who pointed out Maddaus was robbed and angry about it. Money and several pounds, Maddaus agreed.

“And you would have killed to get it back,” Bruneau said.

“No,” Maddaus said.

“You killed in retaliation,” Bruneau said.

“I didn’t kill anyone,” Maddaus said.

“Mr. Maddaus, since you cannot resort to the law, you have to resort to your own rules, you have to resort to force,” Bruneau said.

“You handcuffed Shaun Peterson,” Bruneau said.

“No,” Maddaus said.

Maddaus is charged with first-degree murder, four counts of witness tampering and unlawful possession of a firearm. He is also charged in the same case with attempted kidnapping and second-degree assault of 25-year-old Jessica Abear.
•••

Read about:

• Witnesses point to Maddaus’ friend as shooter, here

• Tremblay testifies Maddaus shot Peterson, here
• Inside the apartment that night, here
• The robbery at Maddaus’s Rochester mobile home, here
• Day one of Maddaus’s trial, here
• Why the first jury pool had to be dismissed, here
• Why Maddaus was convicted of just simple possession in Lewis County last month, here
• How Maddaus refused to testify against Robbie Russell in September, here
• How Russell and Maddaus tried to outrun sheriff’s deputies a week and a half after Peterson’s death, here

Robert J. Maddaus Jr. and his attorney last week in Thurston County Superior Court when witnesses for the prosecution testified.

Robert J. Maddaus Jr. during a break in trial proceedings last week.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

OLYMPIA – Two individuals testified yesterday Matthew Tremblay told them he was the one who shot 40-year-old Shaun Peterson, after a Rochester man was jailed and charged with Peterson’s death  in Olympia.

Shaun A. Peterson

Robert J. Maddaus Jr., 41, of Rochester, is on trial for first-degree murder in Thurston County Superior Court. Tremblay, 30, has testified he was with Maddaus the night Peterson died, but said Maddaus fired the shots.

Maddaus was a supplier to Tremblay and Peterson, who both were drug dealers, according to previous testimony.

Peterson was found handcuffed and fatally shot early the morning of Nov. 16, 2009 on Capitol Boulevard in Olympia. Maddaus had been trying to track down who’d robbed his Rochester mobile home of five pounds methamphetamine and $30,000, according to Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Bruneau.

Robert J. Maddaus Jr.

As the trial moves through its third week, Maddaus’s attorney Richard Woodrow has begun calling witnesses for the defense.

Kyle G. Collins, 27, took the stand yesterday and described running into Tremblay about two months after the homicide, and driving around smoking methamphetamine together.

They had a conversation about it, Collins testified.

“He started crying, said it was an accident and said he was the one that shot Shaun Peterson,” Collins said.

Another witness, 23-year-old Miguel Rodriguez yesterday described meeting with Tremblay in December 2009 at a Motel 6 to purchase methamphetamine.

They talked about what happened in Olympia the month before, Rodriguez said.

Tremblay kept saying he knew Maddaus didn’t shoot Peterson, Rodriguez testified.

He said, because he was the one that killed him, Rodriguez said.

Also in court yesterday, a man who described himself as Tremblay’s drug dealing partner told the jury he was asked to retrieve what he thought was the murder weapon from Tremblay’s motel room soon after the shooting.

David “Nate” Hoffman testified he had his girlfriend pick it up and he made plans with Tremblay to leave town.

Two other witnesses testified yesterday being told by people who were in the Capitol Boulevard apartment of Dan Leville and Falyn Grimes that Maddaus was inside when the shots were heard outside. Leville and Grimes have testified both Maddaus and Tremblay were outside with Peterson.

Maddaus is charged with first-degree murder, four counts of witness tampering and unlawful possession of a firearm. He is also charged in the same case with attempted kidnapping and second-degree assault of a 25-year-old woman he suspected of being involved in stealing his drugs and money.

•••

Read about:
• Tremblay testifies Maddaus shot Peterson, here
• Inside the apartment that night, here
• The robbery at Maddaus’s Rochester mobile home, here
• Day one of Maddaus’s trial, here
• Why the first jury pool had to be dismissed, here
• Why Maddaus was convicted of just simple possession in Lewis County last month, here
• How Maddaus refused to testify against Robbie Russell in September, here
• How Russell and Maddaus tried to outrun sheriff’s deputies a week and a half after Peterson’s death, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

OLYMPIA – A friend of Robert Maddaus’s who spent the weekend in November 2009 helping the Rochester man track down who’d robbed him of  five pounds methamphetamine and $30,000 testified yesterday in Maddaus’s murder trial.

Robert J. Maddaus Jr.

Matthew Tremblay, 30, took the stand in Thurston County Superior Court and recounted visits the pair made to talk with various people including the night of Nov. 15, after which 40-year-old Shaun A. Peterson end up handcuffed and fatally shot on Capitol Boulevard in Olympia.

Tremblay said he met up with Maddaus at the Olympia apartment of Dan Leville and Falyn Grimes.

“He told me he was going to question Shaun, he was trying to get me to help him,” Tremblay said.

Peterson was already handcuffed, Tremblay testified.

Maddaus, 41, is on trial for first-degree murder and other charges in Peterson’ death. His attorney Richard Woodrow has said he plans to show it was Tremblay who shot Peterson.

Shaun Allen Peterson

Tremblay testified, as have Leville and Grimes that they, Maddaus and Peterson were listening to a recording of voices talking about the robbery.

Maddaus believed it included Peterson’s voice, Tremblay didn’t agree, Tremblay said.

Tremblay said he suggested they leave, as he could tell Leville was uncomfortable and Maddaus yelled at him.

“I believe around that time, Shaun had enough of the situation and left out the front door,” Tremblay said.

Tremblay said Maddaus followed Peterson out while Tremblay gathered up some items in a plastic bag.

He testified he then put the bag in the trunk of Maddaus’s VW Jetta.

“While I was loading stuff in the car, I hear gunshots,” Tremblay said.

Tremblay said he looked, saw Maddaus with a gun, saw Peterson turn and run down the street.

“I got in the car and picked up Bobby,” he said.

Then, Tremblay testified to a series of events that was heard for the first time, according to both Woodrow and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Bruneau.

He spoke of stopping at one point and Maddaus taking over the driving. He said also, Maddaus ran back to where Peterson was, running by him crouched, as though he were going to shoot him in the head. But he didn’t hear any more gun shots, he said.

The two men drove to Rochester, to the home of a friend of Maddaus’s named “Josie”, Tremblay said.

There, Maddaus put gasoline on his arms to get rid of gunpowder and took a shower, Tremblay testified.
•••

Read about:
• Inside the apartment that night, here
• The robbery at Maddaus’s Rochester mobile home, here
• Day one of Maddaus’s trial, here
• Why the first jury pool had to be dismissed, here
• Why Maddaus was convicted of just simple possession in Lewis County last month, here
• How Maddaus refused to testify against Robbie Russell in September, here
• How Russell and Maddaus tried to outrun sheriff’s deputies a week and a half after Peterson’s death, here