Lewis County Sirens.com

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By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 60-year-old Toledo-area man appeared in Lewis County Superior Court yesterday in response to a summons, after learning he was accused for the second time of inappropriately touching a 5-year-old girl almost 18 years ago.

Steven M. Nowlen is charged with first-degree child molestation.

According to charging documents, the allegations were investigated when the alleged victim was a child, but recently the now-22-year-old reported the matter to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Nowlen was distressed to learn news reporters were present during his hearing.

“This isn’t going to be in the newspaper is it,” he asked outside the courtroom. “This is embarrassing.”

Nowlen said the allegation was investigated years ago, and suggested he couldn’t understand why it was getting looked at again.

“I took a lie detector and passed it with flying colors,” he said.

The charge, filed on May 18 in Lewis County Superior Court, alleges sexual contact sometime between Nov. 1, 1998 and March 1, 1999.

The allegation is the child was at her aunts home in Winlock, taking a bath with her cousin and the aunt’s boyfriend touched her between her legs when it was time to get out of the tub.

The court documents indicate the case was re-investigated beginning this past November.

Sheriff’s detective Jeremy Almond gathered records and conducted interviews and found the original case records were incomplete. In 2000, Winlock Police Chief Forrest McPherson suddenly died and there is no record of what happened with the case after the child was examined at St. Peter’s Sexual Assault Clinic.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Sheila Weirth wrote in the court documents that information from the medical examination revealed a condition “which can be seen in children who have been sexually abused, but is not a specific finding of sexual abuse.” The clinic recommended further police investigation.

Nowlen when interviewed by the detective denied ever inappropriately touching the child and told him he passed a polygraph in the 1990s, according to Weirth. There is no record of him taking one at that time, Weirth wrote.

Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey was told yesterday afternoon it appeared Nowlen qualified for a court appointed lawyer. Centralia attorney David Arcuri was appointed.

The offense carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Prosecutors requested and were granted a $10,000 unsecured bond as a condition of release. Nowlen’s arraignment is scheduled for June 16.

Grace E. Barker turns toward the gallery in Lewis County Superior Court during her hearing.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The woman accused of stabbing her boyfriend in the neck at his Mossyrock home was found competent so her case could continue and pleaded not guilty yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court.

Grace E. Barker, 26, was evaluated at the Lewis County Jail by personnel from the state’s psychiatric hospital, according to her lawyer.

Barker was arrested on April 6 following the incident at the 200 block of Mossyrock Road West, and subsequently charged with first-degree assault. The offense carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Defense attorney Shane O’Rourke told a judge yesterday afternoon, his client would be withdrawing her previous plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

He told the judge that wasn’t a viable route, based on the work they’d done so far on the case. He didn’t offer further detail.

Prosecutors wrote in court documents that Brian Slater was trying to get Barker to leave his residence when she picked up a knife, and he armed himself with a knife and when he threw his down thinking she had done the same, she stabbed him in the throat.

Slater spent about three days at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with a punctured lung and other injuries before being released. He has said the weapon was 10-inch long stiletto.

Concern about Barker’s mental stability led to postponements and the visit from Western State Hospital.

While she was found competent enough to understand and assist in her own defense, she made the plea of not guilty by reason of insanity a few weeks ago. O’Rourke explained that has to do with the question of whether a person is sane at the time of the incident.

Outside the courtroom yesterday, he reiterated they withdrew that plea only for the general reason he gave the judge.

He will be focused on a self defense argument, O’Rourke said.

Slater, her boyfriend and the father of her child, has said he supports her 100 percent and wants to see her get help instead of a jail cell.

Barker’s trial is scheduled for the week of June 20 in Lewis County Superior Court. She remains held on $500,000 bail.
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For background, read “Mossyrock argument: Two knives, one airlifted, other arrested” from Thursday April 7, 2016, here

Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Lewis County Regional SWAT Team is among five such groups which will join with Olympia’s police and fire departments undergoing an “active threat” readiness exercise tomorrow at the state capitol.

The training is important since more than 6,000 state employees work on the campus daily, according to the Washington State Patrol. In addition, an estimated 500,000 people visit, tour and use the capitol grounds every year.

An estimated 200 first responders – law enforcement officers, firefighters and medical units – will be on campus. Participants will also bring about 50 vehicles to support the exercise.

SWAT teams from the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, from Pierce County, the Washington State Patrol and from the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be there as well. The Lacey Police Department and multiple divisions from the state patrol are also taking part.

The Washington State Patrol and the Department of Enterprise Serves are coordinating the event.

“While there are no known specific threats to the campus, the training is designed to enhance preparedness, improve coordination and develop consistent response efforts among state, local and federal response agencies should an active threat occur,” the agencies stated in a news release.

Some roadways and parking lots on the west campus will be closed for staging people, equipment and vehicles.
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CORRECTION: Washington State Patrol’s SWAT team took part in this exercise.