Judge denies request to amend Royal City murder charges

EPHRATA — A judge has denied a request to amend the charges against a Royal City man who is accused of shooting and killing one of his co-workers and shooting and injuring another co-worker in 2015.

Grant County prosecutors initially charged Eduardo Ibarra Valencia, of Royal City, with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in connection with the November 2015 shooting death of 49-year-old Quincy resident Joel Rodriguez and injury shooting of a Soap Lake man at Callahan Manufacturing in Royal City.

After the state filed the initial charges against the defendant, court proceedings were put on hold as Ibarra Valencia underwent an evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial. Ibarra Valencia was found competent, but he was returned to Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake for further evaluation of potential mental defenses, according to a ruling submitted by Judge John Knodell.

The state was presented with a problem with regard to taking the case to trial and the defendant being acquitted based on either insanity or diminished capacity. As a result, the state and Ibarra Valencia’s defense council struck a plea agreement in which Ibarra Valencia would plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter, with a firearm enhancement, and one count of attempted first-degree manslaughter. The plea would put Ibarra Valencia behind prison bars for about 20 years.

The amendment of the charges requires approval from the court and Knodell denied the state’s motion to amend the charges. In his ruling Knodell notes Ibarra Valencia has “some” history of depression and anxiety and was at one point diagnosed by a general practitioner with unspecified disorders and prescribed anti-depressants.

To justify the amendment of the charges, both the state and defense submitted reports from Eastern State Hospital and Dr. Kenneth Muscatel. Even after reviewing the reports, Knodell is of the opinion that the conclusions drawn by the attorneys do not support the amendment of the charges.

“No expert has reached the conclusion that Mr. Ibarra Valencia was incapable of forming specific intent at the time of his crimes. While it is clear his judgment and perhaps even his perception was colored by anger or other emotional state, diminished capacity would not be available to him as a defense unless he were unable to act with the intent to accomplish a criminal result.”

Knodell states Ibarra Valencia left his Royal City home for his workplace at Callahan Manufacturing with the “apparent single objective of murdering his co-workers." Police records indicate Ibarra Valencia was having problems at work with his co-workers and even showed one of them a .40 caliber handgun eight days before the shooting and said it was for protection.

The defendant reportedly gave a motive for the shooting and Muscatel did not find Ibarra Valencia was not able to intend harm or premeditate the crimes. Muscatel rather found that Ibarra Valencia’s ability was “impaired” and Knodell contends it is unlikely a jury would not find both premeditation and intent.

With regard to an insanity defense, Knodell states there cannot be one because Ibarra Valencia failed to enter an insanity plea in writing within 10 days of his arraignment, or later if he was to show good cause, which is required by Washington's court rules. Ibarra Valencia’s attorney, Michael Felice, contends his client did enter an insanity plea in that time frame, but did so orally, not in writing, to Judge John Antosz.

“Even accepting for purposes of argument that Mr. Ibarra Valencia suffers from one or more mental illnesses and from delusions as Dr. Muscatel describes, that illness and attendant delusions did not prevent him from knowing that he shot two men and that it was a crime to do so,” Knodell states. “His ability to interpret the words, actions and motivations of his co-workers may not have been coherent or accurate, if his version of events is taken at face value, but he told Dr. Muscatel that he knew he had committed a crime and that he expected to be arrested.”

During a hearing this week Deputy Prosecutor Ed Owens said Ibarra Valencia agreed to plead to second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder, which would carry a 20-year sentence, if the court denied the amendment of the charges to manslaughter and attempted manslaughter.

Ibarra Valencia returns to court on Monday for another hearing, at which time Knodell is expected to either accept or deny the new proposed plea deal.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.