Abrams' alleged confession likely to be thrown out

Statement by man charged with murder to stay out of jury trial

EPHRATA — An alleged confession statement that a homicide suspect apparently provided to two Grant County Sheriff's Office detectives will not likely be used in the jury trial that starts Aug. 31.

Dustin Gene Abrams, 21, of Moses Lake is charged with robbing and fatally shooting 79-year-old Michael B. Mallon during a robbery in March 2004 at the victim's remote home near Willow Lakes.

During a prison interview on Nov. 18, at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Abrams allegedly told GCSO detectives Joe Kriete and Kim Cook that he killed Mallon after stealing his money, coins and firearms, according to court documents.

In May of this year, Abrams filed a civil rights complaint in U.S. District Court in which he claimed a state corrections investigator punched and choked him minutes before he provided the apparent confession statement to the Mallon murder. Abrams claims that the statement he provided for the detectives visiting him in the penitentiary on Nov. 18 was therefore involuntary.

On Friday, Grant County Superior Court Judge John Antosz found that there was a technical violation of Abrams' Miranda Rights during the alleged Nov. 18 confession statement.

Because corrections officer Jim Hartford reinitiated a conversation about the case with Abrams after the suspect had told the detectives that he didn't want to continue the conversation, those statements, both written and taped, in which he apparently admitted to the murder, will not be used, lawyers from both sides said.

Grant County Prosecutor John Knodell said that even without the alleged confession statement, the state has other statements that Abrams apparently made on other occasions to law enforcement officials to bring before the jury Knodell believes they will prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in the case.

Knodell also plans to use Abrams' alleged escape attempt, discovered during a routine search of the Grant County Jail Aug. 16, as evidence of a guilty-state-of-mind in the upcoming jury trial.

"An innocent guy wouldn't try that," Knodell said.

Defense Attorney Alan White of Moses Lake, who is serving as Abrams' stand-by legal counsel in the homicide case, said that there are two scenarios where the alleged confession statements could be presented to a jury.

First, if Abrams takes the witness stand himself, the alleged statements become admissible. If Abrams introduces evidence for the purpose of showing someone else committed the crime, the state can call rebuttal witnesses and introduce the alleged statements at that time as well.

White is currently representing Abrams in the alleged escape attempt case, in which Abrams pleaded not guilty to charges of malicious mischief and attempted escape on Monday before Grant County Superior Court Judge Ken Jorgensen.