Rick Riffe, right, and his lawyer listen to prosecutors offer a rebuttal in Lewis County Superior Court.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The prosecutor summarized his case, the defense offered its closing statements and the state got one last chance to address the jury yesterday before deliberations began on the 1985 slaying of Ed and Minnie Maurin, the Ethel couple who instead of hosting their annual Christmas party that year, were taken out to a logging road and shot in the backs.
Ricky A. Riffe, 55, is represented by a Seattle attorney who says the sheriff’s office got the wrong man. Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer and his senior deputy prosecutor contend the former Mossyrock man at the very least was an accomplice to their other longtime suspect who is dead, the defendant’s younger brother John Gregory Riffe.
Riffe’s attorney had said at the beginning of last month his client would take the stand, but he didn’t.
Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead took and hour and a half at the end of yesterday to rebut Crowley’s closing.
Crowley did what defense attorneys do when they don’t like what’s happened in the courtroom, Halstead said.
“What’s the defense, did you hear one?” Halstead asked. “Did you hear Greg was not involved?”
“No,” he answered himself.
Crowley’s insinuation prosecutors backpedaled from pinning it all of his client in their opening to suggesting two or more people were responsible when they gave closing arguments was an unfair characterization, according to Halstead.
“I thought I made it clear,” Halstead told the jury. “One person involved is dead, one is alive, and, there possibly could be more.”
The fear Crowley kept alluding to is the real fear witnesses felt about testifying, he said.
Nearly 100 individuals took the stand during five weeks of testimony to tell what they noticed at the Maurin’s house from where prosecutors say the couple was abducted, to the bank where prosecutors say they were forced to withdraw $8,500, to Stearns Hill Road where their bodies were found and on roadways in between where prosecutors say the Maurin’s 1969 Chrysler traveled on Dec. 19, 1985.
Item by item, Halstead picked apart Crowley’s contentions.
The event witness Les George described about Riffe tearing the page out of the book after his shotgun purchase at Sunbirds: “It’s not really relevant to this case.”
As far as the money the Riffes seemed to have to spend after the crimes, Halstead said he never claimed Greg Riffe purchased a log truck and detectives didn’t seek out the registration for the boat Rick Riffe bought because he admitted he bought it.
“The Christmas gifts, where’s the money for that?” Halstead asked. “Mr. Crowley glazed over that. He never explained to you where the money came from.”
Crowley said no one saw a sawed-off shotgun, he said, but several people testified they saw a person with a shotgun.
“Mr. Crowley wants you to believe there really were three people in the car,” he said. “Does it really make a difference? No.”
The burglary: “This is where you’re allowed to consider circumstantial evidence,” Halstead said.
The Maurins were in their 80s, all someone needed to do was knock on the door, or enter through an unlocked backdoor, he said.
It’s plausible, in that Minnie Maurin clearly had warning something was wrong, and hid her purse behind the couch beneath a newspaper, according to Halstead.
And the bank documents found on the bathroom floor, he said. Somebody got them and took them into one of the only places in the house where they could not seen from the outside, he said.
“Let’s talk about why Ricky left Washington,” Halstead said. “Oh, the rumors are the reason he left? Who came in here and testified about that? Not one person.”
Halstead told the jurors it was entirely up to them to decide which witnesses they felt were credible and which they did not. The defense attorneys opinion on that doesn’t mean anything, he said.
“Mr. Crowley suggested Deputy Forth didn’t see what he saw,” Halstead said. “It’s ridiculous. He saw the red blanket, he picked the person out the montage.”
Halstead said if jurors wanted to ignore Erwin Bartlett’s testimony, it wouldn’t matter to the case. The former fellow inmate wanted his case dismissed in exchange for telling about what Riffe told him, he said.
Marty Smeltzer. “Again, you can do what you want,” he told the jurors.
The state doesn’t need that testimony, he said.
Halstead said he understood why the defense tried to get jurors to disregard Jason Shriver’s testimony that he saw Ricky and his brother with the Maurins inside their car on the foggy morning of Dec. 19, 1985.
“Because Mr. Shriver is an extremely important witness in this case,” he said. “Is that really what they’re going to hang their hat on? Because Jason said it was clear that day?”
Halstead told the jury if they believed Shriver, the state has proved its case.
“Erwin Bartlett and Gordon Campbell, if you don’t believe them, don’t consider them,” he said.
Halstead’s parting words before the jury was sent to deliberate: “Common sense. Use it. Rely on it.”
The jury of eight women and four men was sent to begin deliberating shortly before 5 p.m. yesterday, but chose to go home at 5:30 p.m. and returned this morning to continue.
Riffe is charged as the principal player or as an accomplice with one count of burglary, two counts of first-degree kidnapping, two counts of first-degree robbery and two counts of first-degree murder, or, in the alternative, two counts of second-degree murder.
Ricky Riffe’s longtime girlfriend Sherry Tibbetts and her son Jeremy Kern watch proceedings from the defense side of the courtroom.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Disregard my comments below on the windpipe & Joe didn’t do it. These got scrambled in from another case I was making comments on. Disregard
Sorry for the mistake .lol..
How can any of you say Riffe bros didn’t kill the Maurin’s when witnesses saw both leaving the Maurin’s parked car???
Next, it can be really foggy but u can still see someone in a car next to you. Also, it wasn’t too foggy for the Shivers to pass the Maurin’s car!!
Also, u can’t yell out “please don’t kill me” if the trachea/windpipe is cut!
Look at all the facts. Joe didn’t do it….
I just finished watching the facts on Investigate Discovery in the Christmas Terror episode at 12am, 28 Feb 2015. You should all watch it.
Nonyabiz, i am not berating you when it is a truth. They were not threats, but a promise. I do not remember the Rife’s calling names? I remember them telling people they would kill their whole family if they said anything. And the burn in hell was for Rick, not you. I have wasted too much time with your rhetoric. Get up and be a productive citizen. Best of luck to you seeing the light someday. Unfortunaltly, misery loves company, so odds are, you won’t.
Nonyebiz. I laugh at you. You are siding with a vicious murder. Word on the street, only saying that for slander reasons, is that the Rifte’s kiled Lisa Bailey, Greg’s wife, because she was leaving him to come home and talk to the Sheriff’s department. Rick and another person killed another man from Mossyrock. Rumor has it he killed more in Alaska. You say I have hate in my heart? Lol. Very irritatating when you play arm hair Quarterback to events that changed peoples’ lives. You seem like a person that has not been successful in life and feel you were somehow mistreated by authority figures. Also, you seem like a man that stays at home with a possible inflated injury or you are on state assistance, that hard working people like me pay for. You pray cor me? Thank you, I appreciaite that. I in turn, will pray for you and that you might remove the willful ignorance from your mind. Also, that someday your children will respect you. God bless. One more thing. When I was at Rick Rife’s sentencing, I told him to burn in hell, twice. The truth will set you free. I am free. 🙂 And He will bein prison for the rest of his life. How about when he is convicted of rape and child abuse. Will you still defend him? How about when the other felones find out he is a amurdering baby raper? Will you still defend him? Lol, you are pathetic.
Yall can say what ya want but I tried to leave Rick on several occations he smashed my kids fingers with a hammer when they were 3 and 5 yrs old and burnt them with a lighter now what kind of an animal is that.He always found and followed us so keep your remarks to yourself unless yall knew the Riffe Brothers And he killed innocent people I hope he gets the death penalty Hate if yall want…
I think it has been an injustice. I am at a complete loss as to how a jury found him guilty on people’s memories from 20+ years ago. No evidence but for circumstantial.
Jake you have such hate in your heart. You have been reduced to name calling and threats. Are you any better than what you are so adamant against? I will pray for you. I would not wish anyone to hell.
I am in no way related to any of the people involved. Just a bystander reading the facts or lack thereof as presented in the papers.
Really, I keep reading about “not remembering things that happened decades ago” but I call garbage. Remember your wedding? Birth of a child? Grandparent passing? Famous person passing (where were you when JFK or Elvis died? If you are old enough to remember, that is!). If your neighbor was shot and killed and your neighborhood was scared spitless, then yes, you remember those things. Dinner last Friday was not traumatic (for most people!) but other things are just unforgettable. So enough with the memory issue.
Disclaimer – I was not here when all this went down, nor do I think that I know anyone involved (none of my friends have mentioned it).
Numyabiz. How do you like the GUILTY verdict? Burn in *#LL
Nonyabiz. Are your Rick’s step Son? Or his girlfriend’s Son. You seem to be his one of the 3 ONLY supporters! You are ridiculous! Lol
This is for nanyabiz. The Rife’s lived in Mossyrock. They went to Alaska be ause of warrants and things getting to hot. Are you a friend or relative of Rick? Sounds like it for your supportive replies. Rick Rife came back from Alaska a few times over the years. You are a spineless supporter of a murderer and you have no clue. Rick Riffe kidnapped and killed these poor people. I saw them with the Maurins! You wind bag! I am an easy person to find. I would like to see you in person. Hope you have insurance.
Noneyabiz hit the nail on the head. Most of the people that I see Screaming GUILTY have been long time residents of here and/or have been affected by the crime at hand. They have not really proved anything and a 25 year old memory isn’t as good as the prosecutor would like it to be.
How do you live in fear and will continue to live in fear when the defendant has lived in Alaska since the 80’s!?! The place where he was born and raised! He didn’t run away from Washington! He is from Alaska! If the Riffe’s are so scary they have had over 20 years to “take out witnesses” and yet Rick has been living a normal, violence free, law abiding life. Come on! A “sociopath” can’t change their stripes that much!
From everything that I have read these “eye witnesses” are remembering things from 20+ years ago. There is no way I would remember that it was foggy 20+ years ago…no matter if tragic things occurred on that day! It seems sketchy that these people have such vivid memories.
I think everyone agrees that what happened to the victim’s was and is a horrible crime. We all feel for the family that has to live with this daily. We all want someone to pay for this crime. I still do not believe that it has been proven that the Rick Riffe commited this crime.
Nonsense to much of the above comment. Circumstantial evidence may not justify the death penalty, but build up a sufficient number of sightings, sayings, threats, and behaviors– all reinforcing each other and tending to one connection– and you no longer have coincidence but the weight of proof.
Of course his lover is on his side. Sociopaths, by definition, have two faces. She may well go to her grave believing injustice was done him. A more important consideration is that, lacking a conviction, the many witnesses against Riffe, who have already lived 30 years in fear from clear and viable threats, will be sentenced to spend theirs or his remaining years in outright terror.
Sounds like mema is a disgruntled vindictive ex of one of the Riffe’s. Plain and simple the state has NOT proven its case.
Maybe Riffe did change – his “long time girlfriend” is on his side, and I don’t think that the same can be said of any ex’s of both brothers.
On another note, did the county run out of money to buy light bulbs?
He is so guilty plz make him suffer for what he did to the maurins.. If yall know the riffe Brothers yall know there guilty I just wish greg was here to go through the court stuff and face the hadallers for what they did…