Port Angeles man found not guilty in kitchen-knife stabbing

PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man accused of stabbing with a kitchen knife the man whose property he lived on was cleared by a jury Thursday.

After four hours of deliberation, a Clallam County Superior Court jury found Nikolai Jared Logan, 21, not guilty of one count of first-degree assault in connection with the stabbing of 60-year-old Douglas Baker, who was allowing Logan to stay at his home.

Baker was treated and discharged from Olympic Medical Center after suffering multiple lacerations, including a deep wound in his left cheek, during a fight with Logan at his home on Ripplebrook Drive off Deer Park Road at about 7:30 p.m. April 11.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

John Troberg, the Clallam County deputy prosecuting attorney assigned to the case, said he was not able to show that Logan did not stab Baker in self-defense, which was the assertion of the defense in the case.

“I couldn’t disprove beyond a reasonable doubt this claim of self-defense,” Troberg said.

“It’s very disappointing.”

Loren Oakley, the Clallam County Public Defender attorney who represented Logan, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Said Baker struck first

Troberg said the defense claimed that Baker struck first in a fight that reportedly stemmed from an argument over household chores.

Logan reportedly fled the home after the fight, according to Clallam County Sheriff’s Office accounts, and was found four hours later walking along the side of Deer Park Road.

Logan was arrested without incident.

Both Baker and Logan testified during the three-day trial, Troberg said, and both told differing versions of what happened that April night.

As a result of the fight, Troberg said Baker suffered a 6-inch-long superficial cut across his stomach and a kitchen-knife wound through his left cheek that went through to the inside of the mouth.

Logan suffered a gash to the fleshy part of his right hand between his finger and thumb, Troberg added.

“[It was] kind of a nasty struggle,” Troberg said.

Troberg said he attempted to show the claim of Logan acting in self-defense was impossible due to the arrangement of furniture in the room where the fight happened, though the jury apparently was not convinced.

“The evidence to prove [that Baker was the victim] to the standard of proof just wasn’t there,” Troberg said.

“I think [the prosecution] did what we could with what we had.”

________

Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.

More in News

Caro Tchannie and her daughter Lola Hatch, 9, of Tulallip try a long string of beads at Squatchcon on Thursday at the Vern Burton Community Center gym in Port Angeles. Kevin VanDinter of Port Angeles was one of 60 vendors at the four day event, which continues through Sunday. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
Squatchcon underway

Caro Tchannie and her daughter Lola Hatch, 9, of Tulallip try a… Continue reading

Capital budgets include Peninsula

Millions in state funds earmarked

Mike Chapman.
Chapman asks not to employ legislative privilege

State senator removes an exemption to Public Records Act

Port of Port Townsend considering Short’s Farm access

Commissioners aim to balance public, agricultural use

Jefferson library director to start new job May 19

Meet-and-greet event scheduled for May 22

Man taken to hospital after car hits tree

A man was transported to a hospital after a single-car… Continue reading

Bypass roads to be installed at two fish passage sites

Contractors will begin construction of one-lane bypass roads at two… Continue reading

Emily Matthiessen/Olympic Peninsula News Group
Stew Cockburn stands in the spring annual section prior to it being for early spring gardeners.
New Dungeness Nursery planted in landscaping industry

Family and their employees work 2-acre location in Sequim

Partnership discussion may violate state law

OMC in Phase 2 of exploratory process

Members of the public take a guided tour at Port Townsend High School on Wednesday. (Elijah Sussman/Peninsula Daily News)
Port Townsend school district may seek $90M bond

Tour highlights high school’s infrastructure needs

A pair of wind surfers take off from the breakwater at Port Townsend Marina in an apparent race across the bay on Tuesday. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Catching the wind

A pair of wind surfers take off from the breakwater at Port… Continue reading