Marcelle J. Snodgrass consults with defense attorney Joely O’Rourke today in Lewis County Superior Court.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Bail was set today at $250,000 for the Centralia woman accused of stabbing her roommate in the chest with a large kitchen knife yesterday afternoon.
Marcelle J. Snodgrass, 45, was handcuffed and shackled at her waist and ankles when she was brought into Lewis County Superior Court this afternoon.
She was charged with first-degree assault, a class A felony that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $50,000 fine.
Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Nelson asked the judge to hold Snodgrass on $500,000 bail, citing a threat to community safety and noting that when she was on electronic home monitoring on “the 16th” she tested positive for methamphetamine.
He said it he saw 11 convictions in Alaska for Snodgrass.
Defense attorney Joely O’Rourke in requesting bail of only $25,000 said she didn’t know anything about convictions in Alaska, but said other than a felony last year, her client’s most recent felony was 20 years ago.
The 26-year-old victim survived the injury which was described as deep but not life-threatening as it didn’t pierce any major organs. She was taken to the hospital yesterday evening and released by this morning.
The wound was just below her collarbone, according to court papers.
Charging papers and police indicate an officer called about 5:11 p.m. yesterday to a report of a stabbing victim contacted the woman near the intersection of North Washington Avenue and Park Street.
Brittany Ross told an officer Marci Snodgrass and she had been in an argument over rent money at the apartment on 200 block of North Ash Street and Snodgrass stabbed her with a knife that was long with a serrated blade and a black handle, according to court documents.
Ross said her friend Michael Mitchell was there and helped her out of the house. Mitchell corroborated her story, according to the documents.
When police went to the apartment and spoke with Snodgrass, she denied anything other than a verbal argument.
Detective Sgt. Carl Buster said this morning the victim and her friend ran, and she collapsed a few blocks from the apartment, but he didn’t have a phone and neighbors in the area called 911.
When officers searched the apartment, they retrieved a long, black-handled serrated knife hidden behind cookie sheets in the kitchen, with tissue and a substance on the first three inches of the blade, charging documents relate.
Snodgrass, through her lawyer, told the judge the woman hadn’t lived with her in a month, that she’d asked her move out because of drug use.
She indicated to the judge through sniffles that she was ill, didn’t have her medication and had suffered three seizures already while locked up.
O’Rourke said Snodgrass was unemployed, and living on SSI disability benefits and qualified for a court appointed lawyer.
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For background, read “Centralia woman stabbed, roommate arrested” from Monday February 22, 2016, here
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