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By NATALIE JOHNSON testimony and argument by Ma-
~ata[ie@s~7~;~c,~co~t~ty.com.son County Prosecutor Mike Dor-
...................................................... cy and Churchill's lawyer, Brian
Hershman.
Judges ruled last week to al-Churchill's confession was
low the use of confessions given played in its entirety during the
by Stephan Churchill and Travis first day of the hearing on Aug.
Baze in each of their murder tri- 10.
als. In the confession, Churchill
Churchill and Baze have each stated that he assaulted Mor-
been charged with first-degree row because while he was in jail
murder in the death of Shawn on a heroin charge, he believed
Morrow. Morrow burglarized his home
The Mason County Prosecu- and stole his TV. Both Morrow
tor's Office has alleged.that on and Churchill were police infor-
March 26, Baze and Churchill mants.
lured Morrow to a public fishing During the first day of the
area on State Route 3 near Bay- hearing, the court listened to
shore, after Morrow expressedtestimony from Mason County
an interest in buying heroin.Sheriffs Office detectives Jeff
In the confession obtained byRhoades and Matt Ledford, who
law enforcement the next day, on took Churchill's confession on
March 27, Churchill confessed to March 27.
hitting Morrow twice in the head Hershman argued that Led-
with a metal baseball bat. ford and Rhoades, along with
Morrow died of his injuries on other law enforcement person-
March 30. nel, detained Churchill illegally
Last Thursday, Judge Jea- while a U.S. Marshal-led team
nette Dalton, visiting from performed a warrant sweep at
Kitsap County, ruled that Churchill's home.
Churchill's confession was ad- The sweep involved officers
missible at trial after two days of from Mason and Kitsap counties,
as well as Department of Correc- Dalton took issue with how attorney, Charles Lang, argued
tions officers trying to execute Churchill was advised of his Mi- that his confession, also made on
as many warrants as possible in randa rights in the taped confes- March 27, should be suppressed
Mason and Kitsap counties, sion. The Miranda rights warnbecause his Miranda warnings
The individuals named in the a person who is under arrest of were not complete.
warrants were not at the prop- their rights to remain silent and During Baze's confession,
erty, but Rhoades, who is the to request an attorney, which was not played in its
officer in charge of the investiga- While detectives Rhoades and entirety, he asked detectives
tion into what, at the time, was Ledford did advise Churchill Rhoades and Ledford several
the assault on Morrow, came and of his Miranda rights; Daltontimes if they thought he needed
began interviewing people at the said they did not clearly advise an attorney.
home. Churchill that he had the right to They replied that they could
During his private interviews, an attorney during questioning, not answer that, but that if he re-
Ledford and other deputies su- However, because in the warn-quested an attorney, they would
pervised other people present at ing Rhoads said, "You have the not be able to take a statement at
the house, including Churchill right to exercise these rights that time.
and Baze. at any time," Dalton ruled that Lane argued that Baze's ques-
"What we've got here is a per- Churchill had received the full tions about whether he needed
son who's detained," Hershman warning and that his statements an attorney constituted a request
said. were admissible in court, for one.
However, Judge Dalton ruled Dalton presided over the hear- Dorcy disagreed.
that the deputies Were perform- ing because both Mason County"(The detectives) did every-
ing their duty in providing sup- Superior Court Judges, Amber thing necessary and proper to
port to Rhoades, and had not Finlay and Toni Sheldon, recused scrupulously protect his rights,"
acted improperly, themselves in the case. he said.
"I do not find at that time that Judges can recuse themselves Mason County Superior Court
the defendant was in custody," for avariety of reasons, including Judge Amber Finlay ruled in fa-
she said. "This was simply man- if there is a perceived conflict of vor of the prosecution and stated
agingthe population for purposes interest or questions about their that the confession would be ad-
of protecting an officer who was impartiality, missible during a trial.
otherwise investigating a serious Baze appeared in court last Baze and Churchill's trials
assault." Friday for a similar hearing. His could begin as early as this week.
ire along
By NATALIE JOHNSON
A brush fire along State
Route 3 about 1 mile north
of Anthony Road snarled
traffic for several hours
Friday afternoon.
Mason County fire dis-
tricts 2, 5 and 11 respond-
ed. along with firefighting
crews from the Washington
State Department of Natu-
ral Resources (DNR). with
the DNR leading the effort
to fight the fire.
At its largest, the fire
was m two areas: one was
about 100-by-150 feet in
length, and another was 50
square feet, said DNR pub-
lic relations officer Janice
Pacific.
By 3 p.m.. about 45 min-
utes after it started. DNR
crews had the fire mostly
contained after bringing in
a helicopter to dump water
on the blaze. Crews on the
ground dug fire lines and
used water hoses ~o damp-
en ground around the fire
so it wouldn't spread.
The DNR also planned to
bring in backhoes to deep-
en fire lines, which slow
the spread ofbrushfires.
The dry, hot weather
made conditions good fbr
fire at the end of last week.
Temperatures reached into
the low 90s Friday.
"We've had other fires
popping up around the
area." Pacific said.
sna
ll
Journa~ pno~o D~ Natahe Jonnson
A helicopter dumps water on a brush fire Fri-
day afternoon along State Route 3 about 1 mile
north of Anthony Road.
As of Friday afternoon, planned to begin an inves-
the DNR did not know tigation into the fire's ori-
what caused the fire andgin.
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I
J
Crews respond to mobile home fire
By ADAM RUDNICK
Officials still don't know what caused a fire
at a singlew~de mobile home in Kamilche last
week.
There were no injuries during the blaze.
which was initially reported as a brush fire
just aider 3:30 p.m. Aug. 16 in the 600 block
of Southeast Kamilche Point Road. The home
was deemed a total loss.
Mason County Fire District 4 crews re-
sponded ~o the fire. It took firefighters be-
tween 30-45 minutes to extinguish it.
"Given the hea~ and the extent of the fire
damage, we went to a defensive attack." Fire
District 4 Assistant Chief Eric Biehl said.
Mason County Medic One was on hand to
provide rehabilitation and liquids to respond-
ers and the female occupant of the residence.
Biehl said he did not know the estimated val-
ue of the loss. but said Red Cross officials were
notified so the woman had a place to stay.
STORE & DELl SPECIALS-- AUG 23- 29
Arson suspect deemed competent to stand trial
By EMILY HANSON ment hearing, Falter entered a not guilty
e~'nil'~,@/t~onco~t~tyx:oz~t plea in Mason County Superior Court.
Falter is accused of breaking out the win-
dows of his rental house, busting holes into
The suspect of a home arson last month the walls, throwing knives at the walls and
has been declared competent to stand trial, putting fireworks, wood debris and clothing
On July 7. Jason Falter. 34. was arrest- items into the oven before setting it to 550
ed and charged with first-degree arson and degrees Fahrenheit, its highest setting.
first-degree malicious mischief after a fire Initial reports showed that the first 911
was reported at 36 W. Wivell Road. Shel- call reported the structure fire call at 5:14
ton. a.m. However. an earlier disturbance call
Falter, who has been diagnosed with bi- was discovered from 2:41 a.m.
polar disorder 1. underwent a competency Last week. Mason County Sheriffs Of-
evaluation with Western State Hospital. rice Chief Deupty Dean Byrd said an inter-
"His evaluation came back 'compenent.'" nal investigation was still ongoing into why
said Ron Sergi, Falter's court-appointed de- there was no response from the 2:41 a.m.
fense attorney. "I'm still checking on other call.
mental defenses." Falter is scheduled to appear in superior
On Aug. 13 during his initial, arraign- cour~ on Monday on the criminal calendar.
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