Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

OLYMPIA – A jury began deliberations today in the shooting death of a handcuffed man in Olympia.

Forty-year-old Shaun Peterson died on Capitol Boulevard early the morning of Nov. 16, 2009.

His admitted drug supplier, Robert J. Maddaus Jr. of Rochester, is charged with first-degree murder, witness tampering and other crimes in Thurston County Superior Court.

The prosecution alleges Maddaus believed Peterson broke into his Rochester home and stole some five pounds of methamphetamine and $30,000 cash and that Maddaus then abducted Peterson and shot him outside the apartment of another drug dealer.

The defense claims the shots were actually fired by 30-year-old Matthew Tremblay who was with Maddaus, Peterson and three others at the apartment.

Both Maddaus and Tremblay point to each other as the shooter. No one else but one or both of them and Peterson was outside when he was was killed, according to witness statements.

Police did not find a murder weapon.

“This defendant, ladies and gentlemen, is the only one with motive, the one with the means and the only one who is guilty of murder in the first degree and all the other crimes,”  Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Bruneau said in his closing statements today.

Bruneau summarized testimony that Maddaus told others he would kill whoever stole his drugs, was seen walking out of the apartment armed, became a fugitive after the shooting and then tried to develop an alibi.

Maddaus is charged with first-degree premeditated murder or felony first-degree murder. The second allegation is that while he was committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, he caused Peterson’s death.

Bruneau called Maddaus’s testimony he asked Peterson to put on the handcuffs while in the Lacey Fred Meyer parking lot “poppycock”.

The 41-year-old Rochester man is also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm as well as attempted kidnapping and second-degree assault of a 25-year-old woman days before Peterson’s death; a woman he suspected was involved in the theft.

Defense attorney Richard Woodrow pointed out there is no scientific evidence such as DNA or blood spatter that ties anyone to the crime.

“Another way of looking at this this is this is not a murder first degree, but an accidental shooting by Mr. Tremblay,” Woodrow told jurors today.

The statements by witnesses and proof Mr. Tremblay was the shooter will rise to reasonable doubt, he said.

Woodrow contended all the occupants of the apartment hid from the law until they were arrested, and that Dan Leville, Falyn Grimes and Jesse Rivera had time to put together a “story”.

He pointed out he had witnesses who testified Tremblay told them he did it and it was an accident. And, Woodrow said, the jury heard witnesses who told them the prosecution’s witnesses told them differing accounts.

“They’re all consistent among friends, but what they don’t know is we ferreted out these things,” Woodrow said.

The trial has spread out over four weeks and numerous witnesses testifying about incidents from Olympia, to Tumwater, Lacey, Centralia, Chehalis, Onalaska and Rochester. Also examined during hours of testimony was Maddaus’s quest to find the thief and his week and a half he spent hiding from the law.

However, not answered at all is who stole Maddaus’s drugs nor how it was he replenished his supply after the robbery.

Police found one and three quarter pounds of methamphetamine, nearly a half pound of cocaine and about one-third pound of heroin inside a backpack when Maddaus was captured Nov. 27, 2009 in the Chehalis Industrial Park with former Chehalis resident Robbie Russell.

Also not answered is how many of at least four admitted drug dealers who testified Maddaus was their supplier – or more who were named, including Peterson and Russell – have been charged with selling drugs.

The jury of 10 women and two men were sent home for the evening and expected to resume deliberations tomorrow morning.

•••

Read about:
• Maddaus testifies he didn’t do it, here

• Witnesses point to Maddaus’ friend as shooter, here

• Tremblay testifies Maddaus shot Peterson, here
• Inside the apartment that night, here
• The robbery at Maddaus’s Rochester mobile home, here
• Day one of Maddaus’s trial, here
• Why the first jury pool had to be dismissed, here
• Why Maddaus was convicted of just simple possession in Lewis County last month, here
• How Maddaus refused to testify against Robbie Russell in September, here
• How Russell and Maddaus tried to outrun sheriff’s deputies a week and a half after Peterson’s death, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

OLYMPIA – Robert J. Maddaus Jr. took the witness stand today and admitted he spent a weekend trying to find who had robbed his Rochester home of drugs and money but denied he suspected Shaun Peterson, denied having a gun and denied shooting Peterson.

The now-41-year-old answered questions in Thurston County Superior Court about the weekend beginning Nov. 13, 2009 and the days after until he was picked up in Chehalis.

His defense attorney Richard Woodrow asked him why he didn’t call the police.

Maddaus suggested he was stalling until police figured out what really happened.

“I knew there was a warrant for my arrest, I was waiting for it to blow over,” Maddaus said. “I mean, come on, they were gonna find out who did it.”

The Rochester man spent about an hour and a half answering questions today. Woodrow asked him directly: “On Nov. 16, 2009, did you kill Shaun Peterson?

“No,” Maddaus said.

“Who did?” Woodrow asked.

“I think Matt Tremblay,” Maddaus said.

Maddaus is on trial for first-degree murder and other charges in the 40-year-old Tumwater man’s death. Peterson was found handcuffed and dying in Olympia on Capitol Boulevard outside a drug dealer’s apartment.

Twelve jurors plus three alternates – consisting of 12 women and three men – began hearing the case on Jan. 12 in Judge Christine Pomeroy’s courtroom.

Some 30 spectators crowded the Olympia courtroom today to hear what Maddaus had to say.

He began by saying he’d known Peterson about six months.

“It started out drugs. I sold him drugs, he got drugs from me,” Maddaus said. “We kind of became friends.”

He spoke of being out with other friends smoking methamphetamine when he got  a call from his mother letting him know his mobile home had been robbed.

While witnesses for the prosecution have described that Maddaus returned home and assaulted a 25-year-old woman staying with him he believed was involved, Maddaus agreed he was suspicious of her, but said he grabbed a can of bear mace she was holding and it accidentally sprayed them both.

The door to the bedroom was kicked in and then, “It clicks, my safe is open, it’s still there,” he said.

“Oh yeah, obviously somebody had the combination,” he said.

He explained he began making phone calls and then, with acquaintances, visiting people over the next three days.

“All kinds of people,” he said. “Everybody I knew in the drug world, or that knew somebody in the drug world, I was trying to contact.”

Maddaus said he went to a house in Tumwater to see a guy who had methamphetamine that looked like his. Jason Juneau said he’d gotten the dope from Robbie Russell so Juneau bought some more from Russell in Chehalis and the two men compared it, he said.

Maddaus said he got a call from someone who said there was a recording of some people talking about robbing somebody.

He, Tremblay and a couple other people listened to it in Lacey, he said.

“Did you recognize any voice?” Woodrow asked.

“No,” Maddaus said.

Maddaus said he wanted to talk with Peterson about it, since the other person sounded like “Fat Nate.” Peterson knew where “Fat Nate” lived, and Maddaus didn’t, he testified.

On the night of Nov. 15, he and Peterson met Tremblay at the Olympia apartment of Daniel Leville and Falyn Grimes to listen again. Tremblay had a better recording of it and they played it over Leville’s speakers, he said.

“When I got there, it was just Dan, Falyn and Jesse,” he said.

The couple wouldn’t let Peterson inside unless he was handcuffed, Maddaus said.

While Jesse Rivera has previously testified he sat in Maddaus’s car in the Lacey Fred Meyer parking lot and watched Maddaus hold a gun to Peterson’s head while telling him to put handcuffs on, Maddaus said today Peterson did not have the handcuffs until after the two arrived at the apartment.

“I’m sure he didn’t love it, but he wanted to clear his name,” Maddaus testified.

Maddaus said he did not have a gun, but he saw Rivera holding a gun inside the apartment.

They were preparing to leave to talk with another person whose voice seemed to be on the recording, he said.

“Shaun said, ‘are you gonna take these cuffs off?’ ” Maddaus said. “I said, as soon as we leave, I will take them off.”

Soon, Peterson went out the door, Maddaus said.

“I heard the commotion, I seen Matt go out,” he said. “I grabbed my cell, me and Dan started heading to the door … Right as I was going to the door, the shots were fired.”

Maddaus said he saw Tremblay running toward his car and saw Peterson stumbling up the street.

“I ran towards Shaun, he fell down before I got to him,” he said.

Tremblay, in Maddaus’s Jetta, drove past him a bit and stopped, Maddaus said. He got in.

Tremblay stalled the car repeatedly, and Maddaus told him to get out, which he did, but then he got in the passenger side, he said.

“I drove to Rochester,” he said.

“Why?” his attorney asked.

“Because I wanted to get out of there,” he said.

“Why didn’t you call the cops?” Woodrow asked.

“I don’t call cops,” he said. “When you’re in my world, it’s the worst thing you can do.”

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Bruneau spent about 40 minutes cross examining Maddaus.

He focused on conversations Maddaus had after that night with a tattoo artist and drug dealer Theodore Farmer, contemplating getting help with an alibi.

Maddaus agreed with Bruneau that he hid out at friend’s and motels, wore a long wig and arranged to have his Jetta painted. He admitted that he acquired the handcuffs and that he sold drugs.

Maddaus agreed with Bruneau who pointed out Maddaus was robbed and angry about it. Money and several pounds, Maddaus agreed.

“And you would have killed to get it back,” Bruneau said.

“No,” Maddaus said.

“You killed in retaliation,” Bruneau said.

“I didn’t kill anyone,” Maddaus said.

“Mr. Maddaus, since you cannot resort to the law, you have to resort to your own rules, you have to resort to force,” Bruneau said.

“You handcuffed Shaun Peterson,” Bruneau said.

“No,” Maddaus said.

Maddaus is charged with first-degree murder, four counts of witness tampering and unlawful possession of a firearm. He is also charged in the same case with attempted kidnapping and second-degree assault of 25-year-old Jessica Abear.
•••

Read about:

• Witnesses point to Maddaus’ friend as shooter, here

• Tremblay testifies Maddaus shot Peterson, here
• Inside the apartment that night, here
• The robbery at Maddaus’s Rochester mobile home, here
• Day one of Maddaus’s trial, here
• Why the first jury pool had to be dismissed, here
• Why Maddaus was convicted of just simple possession in Lewis County last month, here
• How Maddaus refused to testify against Robbie Russell in September, here
• How Russell and Maddaus tried to outrun sheriff’s deputies a week and a half after Peterson’s death, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

OLYMPIA – Two individuals testified yesterday Matthew Tremblay told them he was the one who shot 40-year-old Shaun Peterson, after a Rochester man was jailed and charged with Peterson’s death  in Olympia.

Robert J. Maddaus Jr., 41, of Rochester, is on trial for first-degree murder in Thurston County Superior Court. Tremblay, 30, has testified he was with Maddaus the night Peterson died, but said Maddaus fired the shots.

Maddaus was a supplier to Tremblay and Peterson, who both were drug dealers, according to previous testimony.

Peterson was found handcuffed and fatally shot early the morning of Nov. 16, 2009 on Capitol Boulevard in Olympia. Maddaus had been trying to track down who’d robbed his Rochester mobile home of five pounds methamphetamine and $30,000, according to Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Bruneau.

As the trial moves through its third week, Maddaus’s attorney Richard Woodrow has begun calling witnesses for the defense.

Kyle G. Collins, 27, took the stand yesterday and described running into Tremblay about two months after the homicide, and driving around smoking methamphetamine together.

They had a conversation about it, Collins testified.

“He started crying, said it was an accident and said he was the one that shot Shaun Peterson,” Collins said.

Another witness, 23-year-old Miguel Rodriguez yesterday described meeting with Tremblay in December 2009 at a Motel 6 to purchase methamphetamine.

They talked about what happened in Olympia the month before, Rodriguez said.

Tremblay kept saying he knew Maddaus didn’t shoot Peterson, Rodriguez testified.

He said, because he was the one that killed him, Rodriguez said.

Also in court yesterday, a man who described himself as Tremblay’s drug dealing partner told the jury he was asked to retrieve what he thought was the murder weapon from Tremblay’s motel room soon after the shooting.

David “Nate” Hoffman testified he had his girlfriend pick it up and he made plans with Tremblay to leave town.

Two other witnesses testified yesterday being told by people who were in the Capitol Boulevard apartment of Dan Leville and Falyn Grimes that Maddaus was inside when the shots were heard outside. Leville and Grimes have testified both Maddaus and Tremblay were outside with Peterson.

Maddaus is charged with first-degree murder, four counts of witness tampering and unlawful possession of a firearm. He is also charged in the same case with attempted kidnapping and second-degree assault of a 25-year-old woman he suspected of being involved in stealing his drugs and money.

•••

Read about:
• Tremblay testifies Maddaus shot Peterson, here
• Inside the apartment that night, here
• The robbery at Maddaus’s Rochester mobile home, here
• Day one of Maddaus’s trial, here
• Why the first jury pool had to be dismissed, here
• Why Maddaus was convicted of just simple possession in Lewis County last month, here
• How Maddaus refused to testify against Robbie Russell in September, here
• How Russell and Maddaus tried to outrun sheriff’s deputies a week and a half after Peterson’s death, here