PORT ANGELES — A last-minute appeal that could have resulted in further delay of Robert Gene Covarrubias’ murder trial failed to materialize on Friday.
The state Division II Court of Appeals denied a request from Clallam County Prosecutor Deborah Kelly that could have disqualified the attorneys representing Covarrubias.
Covarrubias, 25, is charged with second-degree murder for the December 2004 rape and strangulation of 15-year-old Melissa Leigh Carter.
After disappearing from a motel party three days earlier, Carter’s body was discovered in a hollow off the Waterfront Trail in Port Angeles the day after Christmas.
An autopsy revealed that Carter had been raped and strangled.
Covarrubias was charged with the crime in February 2005.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Defense attorneys said that Covarrubias, who has been sitting in a single cell in the Clallam County jail for more than a year, is ready for trial, which is set to begin Monday.
