Family of victim ‘infuriated’ by handling of Lacey manslaughter case. Here’s why
A Thurston County judge accepted a guilty plea from a Lacey woman accused of second-degree manslaughter before a police investigation into the case was complete, frustrating the family of the victim who had hoped for a more serious charge.
Evelyn Laine McMurray, 45, pleaded guilty in front of Thurston County Superior Court Judge Allyson Zipp during a March 11 arraignment hearing.
Prosecutors learned about the guilty plea the day of the hearing and motioned to dismiss the manslaughter charge without prejudice, which would allow prosecutors to file new charges at a later date. McMurray’s public defense attorney objected and Zipp allowed the plea to be entered, according to court records.
By accepting the plea, Zipp locked in McMurray’s second-degree manslaughter charge, leaving the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (PAO) no option to change it.
The events at the arraignment hearing dismayed the family of Elizabeth Provence, the 39-year-old woman who McMurray admitted to killing in February at their shared Lacey area apartment.
Noble Hauser, Provence’s brother, told The Olympian his family felt “infuriated” that the prosecution did not act sooner to amend the manslaughter charge.
Since the arraignment hearing, he said the PAO has not been receptive to his family’s inquiries and request for an appeal.
“We just cannot believe that public officials would be willing to just leave families in the dirt like this when they were the ones who messed up in the first place,” Hauser said. “It doesn’t seem like they are interested in making it right.”
Hauser said his family is speaking out to draw attention to this case before an April 18 sentencing hearing.
“What happened at arraignment, we just simply do not want to happen to other people,” Hauser said.
What does the PAO have to say?
When reached for comment, Tara Tsehlana, a spokesperson for the PAO, said the PAO has “maintained ongoing communication” with the victim’s family by providing updates and responding to their inquiries.
“Our victim advocate has ensured that all of the family’s concerns were relayed to the deputy prosecuting attorney handling the case,” Tsehlana said. “We understand how incredibly difficult this process is, and we will continue to offer our support to the family as the case goes to sentencing.”
The PAO already started considering options to appeal the court’s decision before Provence’s family inquired about it, Tsehlana said.
Washington trial courts have “considerable latitude” in deciding these types of motions and the PAO does not currently see a path to successfully overturning the decision on appeal, she said.
The PAO must also consider how such an appeal could substantially delay the case, she added.
“With this in mind, and while we continue to evaluate this option, we have chosen to not pursue an appeal at this time,” Tsehlana said.
What led to this point?
The Olympian asked Tsehlana to answer questions about the legal process and the reasoning behind the prosecution’s decisions so far.
She answered most of the questions but noted that the PAO is limited in what it can share about an ongoing case.
Tsehlana said prosecutors charged McMurray with second-degree manslaughter based on the evidence available when they received the case.
“It’s important to understand that under Washington law, a charge of murder must be supported by sufficient evidence to convince a jury that the defendant intended to kill another person beyond a reasonable doubt,” Tsehlana said.
“We are understandably reluctant to file a murder charge based on evidence that may or may not be obtained through further investigation.”
At the time of McMurray’s arrest, it was unclear whether she intended to cause Provence’s death, which would be key for a murder charge.
Second-degree manslaughter only requires prosecutors to prove that the defendant negligently caused the victims death, she said.
“We were aware that the Lacey Police Department was continuing to investigate the case, but we had not received any evidence to support a higher charge prior to the arraignment on March 11,” Tsehlana said.
Based on the evidence available at the time of the arraignment, the PAO determined that it did not have a basis to amend the charge, she said.
That meant their only options were to move forward with the plea or dismiss the case to wait for the investigation to be completed and have a full understanding of the evidence.
The prosecution chose to seek dismissal but the court denied their motion to dismiss and decided to accept McMurray’s guilty plea.
Jenna Norden, McMurray’s attorney, argued against the dismissal in a signed memorandum to the court.
Norden said McMurray has a right to plead guilty at arraignment and she was not obligated to give the state advance notice of her intent to plead guilty. She said the state, not McMurray, had control over the charging decision.
“The Court should not depart from its role as neutral arbiter and reject an offered guilty plea by dismissing Ms. McMurray’s case to allow the State, who had discretion over its charging decision in this case, to investigate Ms. McMurray further and potentially bring more serious charges against her in the future,” Norden said in the memo.
Is there more evidence?
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Emily Leddige argued for the motion to dismiss the case without prejudice on March 11.
In a signed memorandum to the court, Leddige said a Lacey police detective was granted search warrants for the personal cell phones of Provence and McMurray as well as McMurray’s laptop the morning of March 11.
“The return for those search warrants will take some time and the potentially inculpatory and/or exculpatory evidence on those devices is a good faith basis for the dismissal,” Leddige said in the memo.
Court records state McMurray left passwords for these electronic devices that police believe were intended for loved ones to use in the aftermath of their deaths.
Additionally, Leddige said there was still no official cause or manner of death for Provence. When reached for comment, Coroner Gary Warnock confirmed Provence’s cause of death was still pending as of Wednesday.
Lacey police found Provence on Feb. 25. That day, McMurray called 911 for medical aid, saying she felt unwell after taking too much fentanyl the night before, according to court records.
While first responders attended to her, she reportedly told them there was a body inside the apartment and she pointed to herself when asked how Provence died.
Provence was reportedly bound with duct tape and a ratchet-type strap and appeared to have been dead for several days.
