PORT ANGELES — Dennis Marvin Bauer’s murder trial likely will be reset next month because of pending laboratory tests and a crime scene investigation, a Clallam County prosecutor said.
Bauer, 51, is charged with three counts of aggravated first-degree murder for an alleged triple homicide east of Port Angeles on Dec. 26, 2018.
Also charged with the shooting deaths of Darrel Iverson, Jordan Iverson and Tiffany May are Kallie Ann Letellier, 35, and Ryan Warren Ward, 38.
Michele Devlin, Clallam County chief criminal deputy prosecuting attorney, said a state DNA lab was working on a second round of evidence testing. Those tests should be completed in early February, Devlin said.
“The firearms lab should be done by the end of February with their analysis,” Devlin told Superior Court Judge Brian Coughenour on Friday.
“And the crime scene response team, literally their email was ‘It’s big, I don’t know when I’ll be done,’ but estimating probably March. So we’re just still waiting.”
Bauer is being held in the Kitsap County jail. He appeared in Clallam County Superior Court by phone Friday.
A six-week trial is scheduled to begin March 30.
Devlin said she and Defense Attorney Karen Unger have been discussing potential trial dates.
Coughenour set a continued status hearing for Jan. 10.
“We will probably be re-setting the trial date, and there would need to be a waiver of speedy trial,” Devlin said in making a request for a prisoner transport.
Unger said she would travel to the Kitsap County jail in Port Orchard to obtain a signature from Bauer waiving his right to speedy trial.
“He does not want to come here,” Unger told the judge.
“I can waive his presence if he’s executing a waiver of speedy trial.”
Coughenour said he would have a colloquy with Bauer by phone to ensure that he understands his right to a speedy trial.
Meanwhile, Ward appeared in court Wednesday for a hearing on the proposed suppression of a Jan. 31 police interrogation that occurred after Ward had requested an attorney.
Ward, who is being held in the Jefferson County jail, is scheduled for a six-week trial in Clallam County beginning Feb. 3.
Letellier, 35, is being held in the Clallam County jail on $3 million bail. Her six-week trial is scheduled to begin March 16.
Bauer’s bail is $3.5 million and Letellier’s is $3 million.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said Darrel Iverson, Jordan Iverson and May were each shot multiple times, including once in the head. The Iversons’ bodies were found Dec. 31, 2018 under tarps and debris on the elder Iverson’s property at 52 Bear Meadow Road.
May’s body was found in a locked shed the next day, investigators said.
Bauer, Ward and Letellier have each maintained their innocence.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.