{"id":8300,"date":"2011-08-31T16:25:32","date_gmt":"2011-08-31T23:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=8300"},"modified":"2011-09-06T15:43:53","modified_gmt":"2011-09-06T22:43:53","slug":"breaking-news-witnesses-subpoenaed-for-reynolds-coroners-inquest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=8300","title":{"rendered":"Breaking news: Witnesses subpoenaed for Reynolds’ coroner’s inquest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated at 6:47 p.m.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker
\nLewis County Sirens news reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n

CHEHALIS – The preliminary witness list for the coroner’s inquest into the 1998 death of former Trooper Ronda Reynolds in Toledo was released today by Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod.<\/p>\n

\"2010.rondareynolds.yearend\"<\/a>

Ronda Reynolds<\/p><\/div>\n

Not on the list is former Lewis County Coroner Terry Wilson, but McLeod said in a news release any potential witnesses who have not yet been subpoenaed are not listed.<\/p>\n

He expects the list to be complete by Sept. 9.<\/p>\n

The inquest is currently scheduled for the second week in October, to be held in Lewis County District Court in Chehalis. McLeod will be the presiding officer.<\/p>\n

Reynolds, 33, was found with a bullet in her head and covered by a turned-on electric blanket on the floor of a closet in the home she shared with her husband of less than a year, Ron Reynolds, in December 1998.<\/p>\n

Among those McLeod has subpoenaed to testify are Ron Reynolds and his three sons who were present when the first sheriff’s deputy arrived, the deputies and detectives who examined the scene, and two of their superiors from the sheriff’s office.<\/p>\n

Others include an outside former homicide detective who reviewed the case for the sheriff’s office and concluded it was a homicide, and two outside investigators who reviewed it after that and concurred with then-Sheriff John McCroskey that the determination of suicide was appropriate.<\/p>\n

The case was the subject of a judicial review in Lewis County in November 2009 after which a panel of citizens concluded then-Coroner Wilson’s determination that Reynolds died of suicide was arbitrary, capricious and incorrect. A judge ordered Wilson to change the manner of death, but Wilson appealed.<\/p>\n

One of McLeod’s first acts after he took office in January was to change Reynolds’ death certificate from suicide to undetermined and announce he wanted to hold a coroner’s inquest.<\/p>\n

McLeod has said an inquest is an investigation, not a trial.<\/p>\n

The coroner’s jury will consist of five individuals plus two alternates. They will be encouraged to reach a unanimous decision about the cause and manner of death, but will be permitted to make a determination by majority vote, according to the rules McLeod has adopted.<\/p>\n

If they determine it to be homicide, they will be asked to determine whether by a preponderance of evidence they can identity the person or person’s responsible for the death.<\/p>\n

If someone is named as causing the death, Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer has said he would have to decide what to do next. One of the RCWs states the coroner shall issue a warrant<\/a> if the person committing the homicide is ascertained by the inquisition.<\/p>\n

The inquest jury’s determinations are not binding, but McLeod has said he will abide by them.<\/p>\n

The courtroom is expected to have seating for 60 persons, with as many as 20 allocated for the news media.<\/p>\n

The witness names are as follows:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Gary Holt – retired Lewis County sheriff’s deputy
\n\u2022 Robert Bishop – former Lewis County sheriff’s deputy
\n\u2022 Dave Neiser – retired Lewis County sheriff’s detective
\n\u2022 Jerry Berry – retired Lewis County sheriff’s detective
\n\u2022 Joe Doench – retired Lewis County sheriff’s chief criminal deputy
\n\u2022 Glade Austin – retired Lewis County sheriff\u2019s detective’s sergeant
\n\u2022 Steve Aust – Lewis County Sheriff’s Office commander
\n\u2022 Carmen Brunton – former Lewis County coroner’s chief deputy
\n\u2022 Laurie Hull – friend
\n\u2022 David Bell – friend
\n\u2022 Ron Reynolds – husband of decedent
\n\u2022 Joshua Reynolds – son of Ron Reynolds
\n\u2022 David Reynolds – son of Ron Reynolds
\n\u2022 Jonathan Reynolds – son of Ron Reynolds
\n\u2022 Tom Lahmman – former Toledo School District superintendent
\n\u2022 Kathryn Hatulla (sp) – Ron Reynolds’ ex-wife
\n\u2022 Dr. Daniel Selove – forensic pathologist
\n\u2022 Barbara Thompson – decedent\u2019s mother
\n\u2022 Marty Hayes – firearms examination
\n\u2022 Mark Liburdi – decedent\u2019s ex-husband
\n\u2022 Richard Underwood – polygraph expert
\n\u2022 Terry Ball – polygraph expert
\n\u2022 Steve Birley – polygraph review
\n\u2022 Joe Upton – handwriting examiner
\n\u2022 Vernon Geberth – consulted
\n\u2022 Rod Englert – consulted
\n\u2022 Raymond Pierce – consulted
\n\u2022 George Fox – former Attorney General’s Office investigator
\n\u2022 Richard Steiner – former Attorney General’s Office investigator
\n\u2022 Gary Aschenbach – forensic statement analyst
\n\u2022 David Stritzke – Washington State Patrol crime lab
\n\u2022 Matthew Noedel – Washington State Patrol crime lab
\n\u2022 Kenneth McDermott – Washington State Patrol crime lab
\n\u2022 Ronald Wojciechowski – Washington State Patrol crime lab
\n\u2022 Raymond Kusumi – Washington State Patrol crime lab
\n\u2022 Jill Bartlett – Washington State Patrol fingerprint division<\/p>\n

\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n

See the rules governing the procedures for McLeod’s coroner’s inquest, here<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n

For some background and to see the roles some of the above individuals may have played, read “Jury finds coroner erred in ruling former trooper\u2019s death a suicide”, here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated at 6:47 p.m. By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker Lewis County Sirens news reporter CHEHALIS – The preliminary witness list for the coroner’s inquest into the 1998 death of former Trooper Ronda Reynolds in Toledo was released today by Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod. Not on the list is former Lewis County Coroner Terry Wilson, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10],"class_list":["post-8300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-story","tag-by-sharyn-l-decker","tag-news-reporter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8300"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8303,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8300\/revisions\/8303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}