PORT TOWNSEND — Michael J. Pierce has filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court over a 2014 ruling that found him guilty of double-murder charges.
A similar appeal was denied by the Division Two Court of Appeals on Dec. 6.
Pierce was convicted of entering the Quilcene home of Pat and Janice Yarr on March 18, 2009, and taking the couple’s ATM cards and PINs — personal identification numbers — at gunpoint before shooting them with a rifle owned by Pat Yarr, then dousing the house in gasoline and setting it on fire.
The 2014 verdict that found Pierce guilty of the murder of the Yarrs was his fourth trial.
Pierce, 41, was sentenced to 117 years in prison and has been serving his sentence in the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
Four issues are being requested to be reviewed, said Pierce’s attorney, Catherine Glinski, in the petition.
The first is that Pierce alleges that he was denied his psychotropic medication while he was incarcerated in the Kitsap County Jail during his third trial due to a faulty medication policy and “deliberate indifference” by the jail’s medical staff.
In the appeal, Glinski argues that not having his medication rendered Pierce incompetent during the proceedings, making it not a fair trial.
The appeal filed by Glinski also argues that a jailhouse informant referring to one of Pierce’s prior appeals was prejudicial, that the admission of evidence that Pierce had committed a crime unrelated to the murder charges swayed the jury and that the jury was not cautioned on the use of informant testimony should all be reviewed by the court.
Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Haas and Special Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jeremy Morris urged the court in their response to decline Pierce’s appeal because he has not shown the previous Court of Appeals decision was inconsistent with state laws.
“We are disappointed but not surprised by Mr. Pierce’s decision to seek review of the decision of the Court of Appeals ruling affirming Pierce’s convictions for the murders of Mr. and Mrs. Yarr,” said Haas in an email.
Haas said he now is waiting to hear if the state Supreme Court will take the case in full, just part of it or deny it completely.
“They set out four issues so the court could pick one or all of them to review,” Haas said. “We just have to wait and see.”
Pierce was originally convicted in 2010 on two counts of murder along with first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery, first-degree arson, theft of a firearm, second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and second-degree theft.
That ruling was overturned by the state Court of Appeals in 2012. The second trial in 2013 ended in a mistrial and a change of venue request that moved the trial out of Jefferson County to neighboring Kitsap County.
The third trial in March 2014 also ended in a mistrial.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
