Blakely seeking change of venue

Attorney argues murder-solicitation case should be tried in Spokane County

The attorney for Ralph Howard Blakely has requested a change of venue to Spokane County.

John Perry, a Spokane attorney hired to represent Blakely, has filed a motion to move the 68-year-old Grant County rancher's case outside the county.

When a crime appears to have been committed in more than one jurisdiction, prosecutors may file in either, but the defendant has the right to request a change, Perry wrote.

Blakely is accused of conspiring with a fellow inmate at Airway Heights Corrections Center in Spokane County to arrange the killing of his ex-wife and daughter. According to a report from Grant County Detective Dave Matney, Blakely had allegedly made a verbal offer to fellow inmate Robbie Juarez of $40,000 to kill Blakely's ex-wife, Yolanda Blakely, and daughter, Lorene Blakely.

After Juarez had been released, he told authorities of Blakely's offer. Blakely then allegedly sent him a letter to a post-office box set up by Grant County sheriff's deputies making the offer again, according to Matney's report.

Juarez was facing burglary charges in Grant County after his release from Airway Heights. He has been convicted of 11 previous crimes.

The offer occurred in Spokane County, Perry wrote, so the case should be held there as well.

"If the elements of the offense were met in this case at all, they were met in Spokane County rather than Grant County," Perry wrote, adding that the case should not be tried in Grant County just before authorities made a deal there.

Blakely was in prison after he kidnapped his wife and son in Grant County, forced her into a homemade coffin and drove her to Montana. He was arrested in part because Lorene Blakely alerted authorities of the crime.

Blakely has pleaded not guilty to first-degree conspiracy to commit murder. He is now being held in the Grant County Jail.

Prosecutor John Knodell said he hopes the case will stay in Grant County. An element of the alleged crime — the receiving of the letter by Juarez — occurred in Grant County, he has argued.

"A trial here will be less expensive," he said, adding, "I'll get to spend the evenings with my family."

Superior Court Judge John Antosz allowed Blakely to look at the charges filed against him, with the caveat that Yolanda and Lorene Blakely's contact information be blotted out.

Perry has also moved to reduce Blakely's bail from its current $2 million, an argument that will be heard on Aug. 16. Antosz already rejected an argument for reduction of bail from Moses Lake attorney Robert Schiffner, who represented Blakely on a pro-bono basis, in July.

Blakely became known throughout the country earlier this summer when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the sentencing guidelines used to place him in prison for kidnapping his ex-wife were unconstitutional. That decision sent shockwaves through the legal community, with federal prosecutors wondering whether their 40-year system of sentencing convicted criminals would have to be overhauled.

The high court has since chosen to hear another federal case on the same issue, which could save those guidelines.