Charges added in murder-attempt-by-insulin case in Port Angeles

Robbie Davis enters Clallam County Superior Court in Port Angeles for his first appearance in July. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)

Robbie Davis enters Clallam County Superior Court in Port Angeles for his first appearance in July. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)

PORT ANGELES — New charges have been filed against a Port Angeles man accused of trying to kill his late stepuncle with a deadly dose of insulin.

Robbie Wayne Davis was charged Friday with two additional counts of attempted first-degree premeditated murder and two counts of first-degree assault-administers a destructive or noxious substance.

Davis, 39, was previously charged with one count of attempted first-degree premeditated murder, one count of first-degree assault-administers a destructive or noxious substance and two counts of felony harassment-threats to kill.

Davis, who is being held in the Clallam County jail on $50,000 bail, is scheduled for trial June 15.

Port Angeles police said Davis injected Richard Haynes, 57, with lethal levels of insulin while Haynes was being treated at Olympic Medical Center on June 15, 2014.

New charges

The new charges stem from allegations that Davis attempted to kill Haynes, a nondiabetic, with insulin in December 2013 and March 2014, court papers said.

A nurse found Haynes with dangerously low blood sugar after a visit from Davis in the hospital last June 15.

Haynes, who had Down syndrome, died of complications of pneumonia last October.

Davis letters

The felony harassment charges were based on letters that Davis allegedly penned in the Clallam County jail that threatened a deputy prosecuting attorney and a caseworker.

Court records do not say to whom the letters were written

In a letter dated July 11, 2014, Davis allegedly referred to injecting Haynes with insulin because he “just wanted him gone out of the house.”

According to the arrest narrative, Davis wrote in another letter dated July 14, 2014, that he administered insulin to Haynes in March 2014.

When Haynes did not die, Davis wrote that he gave his uncle a higher dose, police said.

“But you still did not die,” Haynes allegedly wrote. “I had to come to the hospital and give you a lot more insulin just so you would die.”

OMC staff told police that Haynes was hospitalized for hypoglycemia in December 2013.

Clallam County Superior Court Judge Christopher Melly on Friday signed an order for consumptive DNA testing at a State Patrol crime lab.

“There is some DNA on some syringes that were taken out of the hospital room where the alleged attempt was made on Mr. Haynes’ life,” John Troberg, chief criminal deputy prosecuting attorney, told Melly.

“The crime lab says frankly that the chances of getting a result are slim. Nevertheless, I would like to test them.”

Defense attorney John Hayden said he would provide his own expert to witness the DNA test.

A review hearing was set for May 1.

________

Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.

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