PORT ANGELES — The bail for a Sequim woman being held in the Clallam County jail for investigation of two counts of attempted first-degree murder of her children was reduced from $2 million to $1 million on Wednesday.
Ekaterina Alekseevna Parrish, 44, will be in court again Friday afternoon for the filing of information and the prosecuting attorney’s office’s presentation of a final charging decision. Arraignment is set for 9 a.m. Dec. 23.
Parrish must surrender her passport to the county sheriff within two hours if she is released on bail and can’t have any contact or communication with her two children, ruled Judge Simon Barnhart during Parrish’s first appearance in Clallam County Superior Court on Wednesday.
Parrish is accused of driving her car over a hill with her two sons, both juveniles, in the car on Nov. 29. She was booked on Tuesday after her discharge from Haborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she was treated for self-inflicted injuries to her wrists.
When asked Wednesday if she had an attorney, Parrish said she would like to hire one but had not made any effort to do so yet. Barnhart said he would appoint public defender Harry Gasnick to represent her until she determines what she wants to do.
On Nov. 29, Clallam County Sheriff’s deputies investigated a 9-1-1 call of a one-vehicle rollover at 1:15 p.m. in the 200 block of Hillside Drive, according to the probable cause statement.
Two boys said they had been in a vehicle rollover and didn’t know where they were, the statement said. One of them told the dispatcher “his mother intentionally drove their car off the roadway and down a steep hill not meant for motor vehicular traffic to kill herself and kill them in the process,” the statement said.
The two reportedly had minor injuries.
The criminal information document filed Dec. 8 with Clallam County Superior Court accused Parrish of two counts of first-degree attempted premeditated murder with special allegations — domestic violence and position of trust. The maximum penalty on each count is life imprisonment and/or a $50,000 fine plus restitution and assessments.
Michele Devlin, chief criminal deputy prosecuting attorney, said she was adding a supplement to the probable cause statement that was “pretty much her confession of what she did to her children.”
Devlin said the state had requested the original $2 million bail because it considers Parrish a danger to the community and to specific individuals as well as the likelihood of her becoming a flight risk due to her international relatives.
Parrish’s mother moved back to the former Soviet Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, also known as the Kyrgyz Republic, about five years ago, according to the probable cause statement.
Parrish also had given a neighbor $177,000 cash in a box to give to a surviving family member, Devlin told the court.
If she makes bail, Parrish can have no communication or contact with her two sons and must stay 1,000 feet away from them and submit to electronic home monitoring with exceptions for medical or court appointments or other approved trips.
Gasnick said Parrish had divested herself of whatever, if any, assets attributable to her except for support payments from a pre-divorce settlement.
He also said it was the defense’s position that if the allegations are true, Parrish’s primary danger is to herself.
Barnhart said that while these are allegations and nothing is proven, the court was disturbed by the circumstances that gave rise to them.
Parrish has no criminal history.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at brian.gawley@soundpublishing.com.