PORT ANGELES — Dennis Marvin Bauer will stand trial for a second time for the murder of three people after a conviction that sent him to prison for life without the possibility of parole in 2022 was reversed on appeal.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Simon Barnhart set a trial date of Sept. 21, 2026, for Bauer, 57, who appeared in court on Friday.
Bauer originally was convicted in the 2018 killings of Darrell Iverson, Iverson’s son, Jordan, and Jordan Iverson’s girlfriend, Tiffany May, before it was reversed.
Next year’s trial is anticipated to take four weeks.
Bauer’s next hearing will be at 9 a.m. on Nov. 21.
He remained Friday at the Clallam County Jail with bail set at $3 million.
As they did in the original trial, defense attorney Karen Unger will represent Bauer, and Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin will represent the state.
Former Superior Court Judge Lauren Erickson presided over the original seven-week trial, which led to the jury’s verdict on Jan. 10, 2022.
Bauer was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences on Feb. 24, 2022.
Bauer’s alleged accomplices, Kallie Ann LeTellier, 41, and Ryan Warren Ward, 44, pleaded guilty to their roles in the murders.
LeTellier is serving a 35-year sentence at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor.
Ward is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at the Monroe Correctional Complex.
In its December 2024 ruling that reversed Bauer’s conviction, the Washington Court of Appeals, Division I, determined that the state had erred in denying the admission of certain evidence at his trial, while allowing inadmissible evidence, including hearsay statements and statements made by Bauer in violation of his Miranda rights. It also found the state had erred by prohibiting Bauer from cross-examining key witnesses.
The Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office requested the appeals court to reconsider its decision, which it refused to do. The county then petitioned the state Supreme Court, asking for a review of the lower court’s decision. It declined to hear the case and sent it back to Clallam County for retrial.
The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office will proceed from the beginning as it did in 2019, when Bauer was first arrested and charged.
“He is presumed innocent until proven guilty,” Devlin said. “That’s kind of where we are.”
Double jeopardy does not apply in Bauer’s case, she said. Since his original conviction has been erased, he is not being charged twice for the same crimes.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com
