PORT ANGELES — Advances in DNA testing may add new evidence to the first-degree murder trial of Robert Gene Covarrubias, Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly said Wednesday.
The extent of DNA testing needed for the trial will be discussed at Covarrubias’ weekly trial status hearing at 9 a.m. today in Clallam County Superior Court, Kelly said.
Covarrubias, 28, is being retried for murder in the December 2004 death of 15-year-old Melissa Leigh Carter of Port Angeles.
Her body was found along the Discovery Trail in Port Angeles the day after Christmas.
A jury convicted Covarrubias of first-degree murder in April 2006 after police said DNA evidence tied him to the case.
Authorities said Covarrubias sexually assaulted Carter, while he said the sex was consensual.
Covarrubias was sentenced to 34 ½ years in prison.
New trial
The state Court of Appeals unanimously ordered a new trial on Jan. 6 on grounds that evidentiary errors by the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and rulings by Superior Court Judge George L. Wood tainted Covarrubias’ chances for a fair trial.
The appeals court also said there was enough evidence to convict Covarrubias, who has again pleaded not guilty.
Ralph Anderson, court-appointed to represent Covarrubias, said Wednesday his expenses for the new trial would cost the county “roughly” $50,000 based on the $75 an hour he charges the county and assuming the trial, expected to begin by July 7, lasts a month.
That compares with the “more than $100,000” in county public defender costs incurred when Anderson and Public Defender Harry Gasnick represented Covarrubias in the first trial, said Anderson, now a private-practice attorney who said he generally charges $250 an hour for his corporate and maritime clients.
Anderson and Kelly agreed in separate interviews Wednesday that new DNA testing techniques could add wrinkles to the trial.
“We’re still trying to figure out the art of the possible at this point,” Kelly said.
Anderson said DNA testing could help or hurt his case, as it could Kelly’s.
“I’m comfortable that it may help my case,” Anderson said.
Wood, also presiding in the new trial, ruled last week that Covarrubias could be represented by Anderson, as requested by Covarrubias, despite conflict-of-interest questions over Anderson having also represented people who testified in Covarrubias’ first trial.
Weekly status hearings on the case will be held at 9 a.m. Thursdays in preparation for the trial, Wood has decided.
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Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
