Ricky A. Riffe listens to his lawyer during a court hearing a few weeks after his 2013 trial.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – After his conviction two years ago, Ricky A. Riffe’s lawyer said his client contested everything about his conviction for the 1985 slayings of Ed and Minnie Maurin and in a 30-page opinion, the Washington State Court of Appeals has rejected all of Riffe’s claims.
At the end of a six-week trial in Lewis County Superior Court, the former Mossyrock man who was extradited from his his home in Alaska was condemned to nearly 103 years in prison, still maintaining he had nothing to apologize for regarding the case.
The elderly couple were found fatally shot in their backs on a logging road outside Adna, days after vanishing from from their Ethel farmhouse, in what prosecutors described as an abduction and a trip to their Chehalis bank at gunpoint to withdraw all their money.
Riffe, now 57, appealed his convictions for first-degree murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary citing numerous reasons they should not stand.
In it’s decision filed on Tuesday, the three-member panel of judges unanimously affirmed the convictions.
“We hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it (1) excluded Dr. Reinitz’s testimony, (2) admitted two composite sketches of Riffe, (3) admitted Riffe’s brother’s statement about killing before as an adoptive admission, (4) admitted Riffe’s former wife’s question to police, and (5) did not allow Riffe to improperly impeach a witness with her prior inconsistent statements,” Justice Lisa Sutton wrote.
“Next, we hold that Riffe’s right to due process was not violated and the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it denied Riffe’s motion for mistrial for the state’s alleged failure to disclose information about a witness’s plea agreement,” Sutton wrote. “Finally, we reject Riffe’s prosecutorial misconduct and cumulative constitutional error arguments, and his statement of additional grounds claims.”
Judge Richard Brosey presided over the autumn 2013 trial. His attorney was John Crowley.
Riffe was represented in his appeal by Seattle lawyer Suzanne Elliott. Handling the appeal for the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office was Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Sara Beigh.
Riffe and his younger brother were both implicated in the murders, but John Gregory Riffe died just before detectives traveled to Alaska to make the arrests in the summer of 2012. Ricky Riffe was convicted as the principal or an accomplice, in the case in which prosecutors at the end revealed they believed may have involved more perpetrators than just the two brothers.
Ed Maurin was 81, his wife Minnie was 83 years old when their lives were taken from them in December 1985.
Read the appeal here, which begins with nine pages outlining the facts of the case.
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For background, read “Riffe continuing battle against finding of guilt in 1985 double-murder” from Friday January 3, 2014, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
http://www.bestseattlecriminaldefenseattorneys.com/cold-case-murder-trial-update-rick-riffe-trial-john-crowley-seattle-criminal-defense-attorney/
Read this, no new evidence period
Well, remember this much.
If you’re ever accused of a crime don’t hire John Crowley.
Good they should have given him the death penalty.
Ricky,
Your brother may have escaped justice but I hope you get a long and hard (pun intended) cellmate who tortures you for the rest of your miserable years.
Ed & Minnie were two of the nicest people around and always were kind to everyone.
You are the scum of scumbags.