PORT ANGELES — Robert Gene Covarrubias intends to change his plea back to not guilty of murdering 15-year-old Melissa Leigh Carter.
This afternoon, just four days after Covarrubias, 28, changed his plea from not guilty to guilty, his lawyer, Ralph Anderson of Port Angeles, told Clallam County Superior Court Judge George L. Wood that Covarrubias was in a depressed mental state and not taking his medication when he made that plea Thursday.
At that time, he said he was guilty not only of first-degree murder, but that he raped Carter before he killed her in December 2004.
On Friday, he told Anderson that “he was off his medication and did not kill Melissa,” Anderson said this afternoon at a court hearing.
Anderson also said Covarrubias was off his medication when he confessed to police July 15 that he killed Carter.
Wood said the validity of the 83-page confession will not be an issue when Wood decides Wednesday on Covarrubias’ request.
A change of plea can be accepted “to correct a manifest injustice,” Wood said.
A time was not set for the Wednesday hearing as of Monday afternoon.
County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly said she intends to challenge the change-of-plea request.
Arguments on the request will not be made Wednesday, Kelly said.
Sentencing had been scheduled for Wednesday for Covarrubias, who until his confession had maintained his innocence since 2006, when he was arrested for killing Carter, whose nude body was found up an embankment above the Waterfront Trail in Port Angeles just east of the Red Lion Hotel.
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Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
