PORT ANGELES — A Clallam County Superior Court judge has found probable cause to charge Kendell K. Huether with two counts of witness tampering for attempting to cover up the death of Jennifer Pimentel.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge George L. Wood signed the order allowing the witness-tampering charges in a brief hearing Wednesday.
Port Angeles police said Huether’s boyfriend, Kevin A. Bradfield, strangled Pimentel, a 27-year-old developmentally disabled woman, as Huether stood by Oct. 9.
Huether, 25, is charged with first-degree rendering criminal assistance for allegedly assisting Bradfield, 22, in disposing of Pimentel’s body near the Hood Canal Bridge in East Jefferson County.
Trial set Dec. 19
Her trial is set for Dec. 19, with a pre-trial status conference set for 9 a.m. Monday.
She is being held in the Clallam County jail on $100,000 bail.
Bradfield is charged with second-degree murder with an exceptional sentence that would give the court the option of imposing a life sentence.
Bradfield, who is being held on $1 million bail in the Clallam County jail, has a trial-setting hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. today.
Huether and Bradfield have pleaded not guilty to all charges against them.
Men said they lied
Clallam County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ann Lundwall filed the witnesses-tampering charges in Huether’s case after two men, William Purcell and Ryan Mongar, told investigators that they originally lied to police about seeing Pimentel at the Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival shortly after her death.
The witnesses said they did not know that Pimentel was dead at the time of their original police interviews.
Purcell and Mongar told investigators that they gave false accounts — at Huether’s request — of seeing Pimentel leave the crab festival with an unknown man in a silver Jeep.
Purcell, the father of two of Huether’s children, told investigators that he and Mongar were approached by Huether and Bradfield at a convenience store parking lot about two days after Pimentel was reported missing, court papers said.
Purcell said the couple told him what to tell police, with Huether doing most of the talking, according to a supplemental motion for determination of probable cause.
The witnesses said the last time they saw Pimentel was actually Oct. 8 at the R Bar in Port Angeles, where they had gone to socialize with Huether, Pimentel, Bradfield and others.
DNA tests needed
Lundwall said DNA tests are needed before Huether’s trial.
First-degree rendering criminal assistance and witness tampering are both Class C felonies punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.