PORT ANGELES — Roger D. Mallicott, a Port Angeles man who was accused of vehicular homicide in connection with a motorcycle-versus-SUV wreck that killed his girlfriend in August 2009, has been cleared of the charge.
Clallam County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Troberg filed a motion to dismiss the charge without prejudice Dec. 1.
Superior Court Judge George L. Wood dropped the charge Friday, which Mallicott described in an e-mail as “a tremendous relief.”
Troberg, who took the case from former deputy prosecutor Erika Soublet in October, said the state could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mallicott’s driving caused the death of Shelly M. Bartlett, 45, of Sequim.
Troberg reviewed the evidence with a State Patrol expert and determined that the state could not prove the case.
“This decision was made after consulting with him and reviewing Ms. Soublet’s work on the case,” Troberg said.
A related DUI charge has been referred to Clallam County District Court.
Mallicott, 47, was driving a motorcycle with Bartlett as a passenger in the early-morning hours of Aug. 16, 2009, when they collided with a 1999 Ford Expedition driven by Lovera M. Blackcrow, 31, at the intersection of Edgewood Drive and Dry Creek Road at the edge of the Port Angeles city limit, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said.
According to the Sheriff’s Office’s investigation, Mallicott braked hard and lost control of the motorcycle, which overturned and ejected Bartlett.
Bartlett hit the SUV and died about four hours later at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, court records showed.
“Last year in the blink of an eye, my life changed dramatically, from a hard-working contractor to a disabled defendant fighting to prove my innocence over the accident that caused the death of my girlfriend, Shelly Bartlett,” Mallicott wrote.
Mallicott and Blackcrow’s vehicular homicide cases were joined because they stemmed from the same incident. Both pleaded not guilty.
Both were also charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.
Blackcrow trial
Blackcrow is still charged with one count of vehicular homicide. Her trial is set to begin Jan. 10 in Clallam County Superior Court.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge S. Brooke Taylor fined the Prosecutor’s Office $500 in February for incorrectly stating that Mallicott is a member of the Hells Angels and that an attorney involved in the case represents the motorcycle club.
“In reality, I am a member of the local club known as the Amigos,” Mallicott wrote.
“Between the charges and the filed motion, I felt as if people’s opinion of me was not very good,” he said.
“Not being able to work due to my injuries as a result for the accident and having to raise $100,000 bail put me in a financial bind as well.”
Mallicott’s bail was exonerated nearly one year after he posted it. John Hayden, a defense attorney in the Clallam County Public Defender’s Office, was his lawyer.
“I grew up thinking that in this country a person is innocent until proven guilty, but with having to pay bail, and with its conditions, my own doctor bills and an ignition interlock on my vehicle I felt that I was treated by the system as already being proven guilty although there was no trial yet,” Mallicott wrote.
In regard to the $500 fine, Judge Taylor said a statement in Soublet’s motion was “incorrect” and “disparaging” toward Port Angeles lawyer Karen Unger and that Soublet committed “a breach of the duty of candor towards the tribunal and opposing counsel.”
The $500 sanction was appealed to the state Court of Appeals.
“The court sanctioned Ms. Unger for failure to file her brief in a timely manner but it is now filed,” Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly wrote in a Wednesday e-mail.
“We then filed a reply brief and the matter is waiting for a date for argument.”
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
