By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A firearm connected with the August triple-homicide in the Salkum-Onalaska area has turned up, attorneys in the case said today.
“They just found the gun apparently, or what they think is the gun, in Spokane,” Olympia lawyer Rick Cordes said this afternoon.
Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher told a judge today they found a firearm and they’re doing lab tests on it.
Meagher didn’t offer further details during a brief hearing today or outside the courtroom, except that police found it.
Ryan J. McCarthy, 29, of Redmond, and John Allen Booth Jr., 31, are charged with murder and other crimes in the August 21 shootings that left three people dead and one woman seriously wounded.
Booth was captured in Spokane by U.S. marshals four days after the slayings. He had been staying at the home of a man who likely didn’t know he was being sought for murder, marshals said at the time.
McCarthy’s lawyer, Cordes, said he wasn’t aware of any evidence of more than one gun involved, besides the shotgun belonging to one of the victims, David J. West Sr.
Today’s hearing in Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis was scheduled so both parties could update a judge on progress in McCarthy’s case.
Both sides agreed to delay his trial until mid-October.
Meagher said part of the reason for the postponement was to wait for test results on the weapon. Cordes said after the hearing he is also still waiting on reports on lab tests on various pieces of evidence.
McCarthy’s trial is now set for the week of Oct. 10.
Booth’s trial is currently scheduled for the week of May 16.
The two men are charged with murder and extortion in connection with the slayings of West Sr. 52, his son David J. West Jr., 16, and Tony E. Williams, 50, of Randle, at the West’s home. Booth is also charged with the attempted murder of 51-year-old Denise Salts who lived there.
Authorities have said they believe the two men’s visit to the house on Wings Way off Gore Road was related to a drug debt collection.
Booth’s charges include aggravated murder for the deaths of West Jr. and Williams, making his a potential death penalty case.
Prosecutors have yet to announce a decision on if they will seek the death penalty for Booth, a former Onalaska resident.
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Read the most recent previous news story on the case, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter