PORT ANGELES — An appeals court has upheld the murder conviction of the man who killed a Clallam County sheriff’s deputy at point blank four years ago.
In an unpublished opinion dated July 27 but posted to the Washington Courts Web site Tuesday, the state Division II Court of Appeals said it found no error in Thomas Martin Roberts’ conviction for aggravated first-degree murder in the death of Deputy Wally Davis.
“We’re very pleased with that decision, obviously,” said Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly, who argued the state’s side before the appeals court earlier this year.
Roberts’ attorney on the appeal, Sherryl Jones of Port Townsend, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Life sentence
Roberts, 57, is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole following his Nov. 7, 2002, conviction in Clallam County Superior Court. He pleaded innocent by reason of insanity based on his underlying schizophrenia.
Jones appealed Roberts’ conviction on the grounds that the evidence was insufficient, he had ineffective attorneys, and that Superior Court Judge George L. Wood erred by admitting into court statements Roberts made that proved his intent and premeditation in the murder.
In the appeals court’s decision, the three-judge panel found that the evidence was sufficient to conclude that Roberts was not insane.
The jurists also found that prosecutors presented adequate evidence to show Roberts knew what he was doing when he shot Davis on the porch of Roberts’ Ennis Creek house.