PORT ANGELES — A state Court of Appeals has overturned the murder conviction of Dennis Marvin Bauer, 56, a Port Angeles man found guilty in a triple homicide in 2022, and remanded the case back to Clallam County Superior Court.
The three-judge panel ruled Monday that Bauer was denied a fair trial due to errors that included allowing too much inadmissible evidence, and admitting certain hearsay statements and violating his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights.
The aggregate effect necessitated the reversal.
“The cumulative errors substantially prejudiced Bauer and denied him a fair trial,” the judges wrote.
Superior Court Judge Lauren Erickson oversaw the 29-day trial that extended over nine weeks.
A seven-woman, five-man jury deliberated for three days before finding Bauer found guilty on Jan. 10, 2022, of three counts of first-degree aggravated murder in the deaths of Darrell Iverson, 57, his son Jordan Iverson, 27, and Jordan Iverson’s girlfriend, Tiffany May, 26. The jury also found Bauer guilty of four counts of theft of a firearm, six counts of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and six counts of possession of a stolen firearm.
The bodies of the three victims were found with multiple bullet wounds on the elder Iverson’s property off Deer Park Road east of Port Angeles on Dec. 31, 2018. Law enforcement said at the time that they believed the three had been killed about five days earlier.
On Feb. 24, 2022, Bauer was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Karen Unger, Bauer’s attorney, immediately filed a notice of appeal.
“In my opinion, there were tremendous errors throughout the trial which I objected to,” Unger said Thursday. “The appellate attorney wrote the brief and did the argument and we were able to prevail.”
Unger said she was extremely pleased with the reversal, but she did not know if she would continue representing him.
Two acquaintances of Bauer also were arrested and convicted for their involvement in the murders. The state reduced charges against Kallie LeTellier, 36, in exchange for her cooperation; she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a sentence of 33 years in prison. Ryan Ward, 39, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
According to the appeals court opinion, testimony and evidence about Bauer’s involvement in the drug trade admitted during the trial was prejudicial. Statements that Ward made to his girlfriend, who testified about his behavior after the murders, was judged to be incriminating.
The appeals court agreed with Bauer that he had been deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to confront his accusers when the defense was not allowed to cross-examine LeTellier about withdrawing her guilty plea or Bauer’s girlfriend, Alexandria Earley, about her involvement in his prior misconduct.
Bauer’s Fifth Amendment right to silence also had been violated when law enforcement continued to ask him questions after he requested to speak to a lawyer twice after being read his Miranda rights; those statements were allowed in court, according to the appeals court.
After the Court of Appeals issues its mandate on Jan. 15, affirming that the review has ended, the case will return to Clallam County.
“We will be filing a petition for reconsideration with Division I Court of Appeals,” Mark Nichols, Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney, wrote in an email. “Regardless of what happens on reconsideration, we will file a petition for review with the Washington State Supreme Court. In the meantime, the defendant will continue to be held in the custody of the state Department of Corrections.”
Bauer is currently incarcerated at the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
