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The trial of Dennis Marvin Bauer

The triple murder trial of Dennis Marvin Bauer was a considerable and costly undertaking for Clallam County. It may be Clallam County’s largest criminal investigation, and is one of our county’s most complex criminal trials. The murders of Darrell Iverson, Jordan Iverson, and Tiffany May took place on December 26, 2018. He was charged with three counts of murder and multiple other charges on January 25, 2019. He denied all charges and after a trial he was found guilty of 16 counts by a jury of his peers on January 10, 2022.

Some of the remarkable case facts

1 Defendant
2 Days for the jurors to reach a verdict on all counts
2 Special motions to handle COVID-19 related issues (including a vaccine requirement for jurors)
3 Judges
3 Murderers
3 Murdered
7 Trial dates
7 Weeks of trial
8 Lawyers
9 Weeks from the start to the end of the trial
11 Orders to transport people in custody
12 Law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation
13 Months from the crime to the arrest
15 Weeks from the start of the trial to sentencing on 2-22-2022
16 Jurors on the panel (4 alternates in case someone got sick)
25 Months from the start of the case to sentencing
29 Days that Angela May, mother of victim Tiffany May, sat in the courtroom watching the trial
33 Pages in the juror’s verdict form
38 Months from the crime to the conviction
39 Pages in the list of trial exhibits
59 Pages of jury instructions read and given to the jurors
80 Witnesses
125 $/hr for defendant’s attorney (paid by county)
132 Jurors in the panel of potential jurors
150 $/hr for defendant’s private investigator (paid by county)
319 Pages in the Clerk’s trial notes (JAVS docket)
990+ Trial exhibits
1,000’s Of pages of police reports
20,000 Dollars paid by county to the defendant’s private investigator
200,000+ Dollars paid by county to defendant’s lawyer (estimated)
680,000+ Dollars spent by the Clallam County Sheriff’s department to investigate
1,000,000+ Dollars spent on investigating and prosecuting Marvin Dennis Bauer

Unknown

Tears shed
People negatively impacted
Clallam County departments involved in some way
Total number of hours devoted to the investigation, trial, and consolation of surviving victims
The total actual cost to Clallam County, the State of Washington, and society

Clallam County’s most murderous

  1. Matthew Timothy Wetherington, four murders
    1. On July 6, 2019, he beat his wife, Valerie Kambeitz, and her three children to death, and then set their mobile home on fire with their bodies inside. “Total annihilation of his family” said prosecutor Michele Devlin.
  2. Dennis Marvin Bauer, three murders
  3. Ryan Warren Ward, three murders
    1. (Bauer co-defendant. Co-defendant Kallie Ann LeTellier plead guilty to helping murder Tiffany May, one of the three murdered by Bauer and Ward)
  4. Darold Ray Stenson, two murders
    1. On March 25, 1993, he shot and killed his wife and business partner. The conviction in his first trial was overturned by the Washington State Supreme Court for mishandled evidence, but he was convicted in a second trial in November 2013. Just the legal fees for his lawyers in the second trial (only) were approximately $900,000.

If you have information to add, or see mistakes, please contact CCB.com. The information above is mostly from court documents, and some from the thorough coverage by Paul Gottlieb, Rob Ollikainen, and the rest of the team at the Peninsula Daily News.

Parenting science training: biological embedding of early-life adversity

This training will look at how early life experience affects development and child and adult functioning, and look at mechanisms of resiliency. This free program is part of the Parent-Child Relationship Programs, a service of the Barnard Center at the University of Washington. This program is highly recommended.

Register here

Biological Embedding of Early-Life Adversity: Challenges and Opportunities

January 13, 2022 from 2pm – 3:30pm PT via ZOOM

Dr. Shalev will discuss the current state of the science of how early-life adversity can ‘get under the skin’ and program biological systems, which in turn may increase risk for later-life physical and mental-health problems. In order to evoke change in the health trajectories for survivors, we need to fill critical gaps in our understanding of this ‘biological embedding’, and to further explore mechanisms of resilience.   Specifically, Dr. Shalev will highlight the role of telomere biology as a potential platform for discovery and intervention studies, as well as limitations in the field and new biological aging clocks to investigate the biological embedding of early trauma.
Idan Shalev, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Health at The Pennsylvania State University. His research entails an interdisciplinary approach to identify mechanisms underpinning the biological embedding of stress, or ‘how stress gets under the skin’, and its effect on health and aging. Shalev’s research combines the disciplines of molecular genetics, endocrinology, neurobiology and psychology. This systems approach integrates data sources across multiple levels of genomic, biomarkers and phenotypic data. Specifically, using innovative research designs, his research tests the effects of stress from early life on change in telomere length and other biomarkers of aging across the life course, and the consequences of change in telomere length for physical and mental health problems. The goal of his research is to pinpoint behavioral and molecular targets for public health observation and clinical treatments aimed at mitigating the consequences of stress on health and aging. Shalev is the past Mark T. Greenberg Early Career Professor for the Study of Children’s Health and Development and an author of more than 60 scientific articles and chapters.

For lawyers, this program does not offer CLE credit directly, but should qualify if you apply.

Clallam Resilience Project: Ease Keys – relaxation practices with Rachel Hardies

January is a great time to find some ease. Join Rachel Hardies, from New Growth Counseling Services, as she introduces exercises that, with practice, can help you navigate life with more balance and ease. These “ease keys” are part of a larger curriculum designed around sharing breath and relaxation practices tied to neuroscience to help bring ease to our nervous systems, and the ways that we are walking through life.  She will present practices that can help in times of stress and help individuals to build resilience that they can then bring to their families, jobs, and relationships.

Our monthly Community Meetings each feature a local presenter speaking on topics connected to toxic stress, resiliency, and trauma-informed practices.  They are free, virtual, and open to the public.

*Every First Tuesday of the month from 10:00 – 11:30am.

  • January 4, 2021, 10:00 a.m.
  • Join Zoom Meeting
  • Meeting ID: 899 2819 4489  Passcode: HOPE  
  • Dial in by phone: +1 253 215 8782     Phone Passcode: 706561

Contact Kaelan Gilman for more information.
[email protected]
Learning & Outreach Coordinator
Clallam Resilience Project
United Way of Clallam County

Clallam Resilience Project: Trauma support through Little Free Pantries

The Clallam Resilience Project holds monthly Community Meetings on topics connected to toxic stress, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and trauma-informed care. The intention is to learn together as a community, from one another, and from a variety of perspectives. These meetings take place on zoom, the first Tuesday of the month, from 10:00 – 11:30am. Everyone is welcome. The zoom link is always available on the website here, as well as the recording of the past presentations. Details of these meetings can also be found on our Facebook page.

Giving through free pantries to ease trauma

At our next meeting on December 7th at 10am,  we will have a presentation by Benji Astrachan from WSU Extension on The Little Free Pantries in Clallam County, and how they offer trauma-informed support for the community.

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 899 2819 4489  Passcode: HOPE  
Dial in by phone: +1 253 215 8782     Phone Passcode: 706561

Parents might consider teaching their children about empathy and giving by creating a family SNACCMS project to support Little Free Pantries.

Contact Kaelan Gilman for more information.
[email protected]
Learning & Outreach Coordinator
Clallam Resilience Project
United Way of Clallam County

The forgotten heroes: Family and friends who call DV helplines

People who experience domestic violence are often hesitant to disclose their stories and reach out for help. Family and friends who have concerns or questions or who may be unsure about what is going on “behind closed doors” should call a domestic violence helpline. There are several agencies on the North Olympic Peninsula, all listed below. You can also call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233

Seeing someone suffer from potential or actual domestic violence can be confusing, involve feelings of helplessness, isolation, and uncertainty about whether or not something should be done. It’s free to call a DV help agency and that is what they are for so they appreciate your calls. They can offer you information about all the many forms of domestic violence, which is also known by the phrases intimidation, bullying, coercive control, power and control, intimate partner violence, emotional or psychological abuse.

ClallamCountyBar.com recommends family and friends call sooner rather than later. Controlling behaviors tend to escalate so the sooner they are tended to the sooner everyone, including the children, can be safe and free to live life without fear.

Coercive control and DV are very common in America. Sometimes both people are involved but usually one person is the main driver and it can be by man or woman or by any gender. Research studies consistently find that over 33% of people experience some form of coercive control, so it’s common in society.

Possessive and controlling behaviors, and physical DV, often develop slowly, over time in a relationship, but can escalate quickly. DV doesn’t always involve physical control, which is why terms such as coercive control sometimes offer a better descriptive term.

Domestic violence comes in many forms, and usually involves a pattern of coercive behaviors, used by one person in a relationship to gain or maintain control over the other. It’s very common for control behavior to be done in a way that is hidden from family and friends, or is at least harder to see. Behaviors may include:

  • Isolating a person from family, friends and other social situations.
  • Limitations on freedom.
  • Stubborn refusal to compromise
  • Unrelenting threats, intimidation, and other forms of coercion to make others do what they want.
  • Switching between very charming behaviors and angry/aggressive behaviors.
  • Persistent blaming of others, and consistently avoiding true responsibility for one’s own actions.
  • Insisting other people solve problems.
  • Focus on self-needs, especially as an excuse to engage in controlling behaviors (they tend to want to satisfy their needs first, and other people’s needs take a back seat or get addressed “later.”
  • Minimizing behaviors used to control.
  • Denying they did anything at all.
  • Their stories and explanations are often “fuzzy” and difficult to follow. Their stories often make loose connections between things which when looked at a little more closely don’t actually make a lot of sense.
  • Put downs.
  • Threating to leave, make false reports to CPS or the police.
  • Doing illegal things to their partner.
  • Demanding their partner dismiss charges if they are filed.
  • Economic and financial control.
  • Emotional abuse.
  • Spiritual abuse.
  • Sexual abuse.
  • Stalking.
  • Weapon use or threats of use.
  • Physical abuse, including grabbing, pushing, spitting, kicking, throwing things, breaking things, and hitting. Harming animals and pets is an indicator of extreme and dangerous control. Choking (strangulation) is an indicator of very extreme domestic violence and increases the likelihood of death by 750%.

If your loved ones disclose concerns, seem to be oddly disappearing from social circles, show (or hide) bruises, feel overwhelmed by their relationships, it won’t hurt to call an agency and speak with an advocate about what you might seeing and feeling. For many reasons, it is often very hard for people who are in a DV situation to ask for help, but they need it. You may be able to help them get the help they need.

For professionals

The behaviors list above is based on traditional DV theory, and also on attachment theory as described by the Dynamic Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation (DMM). The DMM describes the attachment system as involving people’s use of self-protective strategies to survive danger. These strategies are usually developed in childhood, and the more extreme forms of strategies are developed in response to parents who lack skills to provide a nurturing and safe home environment. In adulthood, the strategies to survive a difficult childhood are often used in romantic relationships but are in many ways dysfunctional. When they don’t work, the person often just increases the intensity of the type of behavior. This is why DV tends to escalate. A more detailed list of typical “victim” and “aggressor” self-protective strategies from a DMM perspective is available here.

This article is based in part on a research article by Alison Gregory and colleagues.

Gregory, Alison, Anna Kathryn Taylor, Katherine Pitt, Gene Feder, and Emma Williamson. “‘.?.?. The Forgotten Heroes’: A Qualitative Study Exploring How Friends and Family Members of DV Survivors Use Domestic Violence Helplines.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 36, no. 21–22 (November 2021): NP11479–505. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260519888199.

CLE: Transitioning from the eviction moratorium

On Friday, September 24, 2021, noon-1:00 p.m., a panel of speakers will discuss Washington’s eviction moratorium.

Transitioning from the Eviction Moratorium: A summary of the recent changes in eviction laws and resources in Washington State

Hosted by the Clallam-Jefferson County Pro Bono Lawyers, the panelists are Steve Robins, Sam Feinson and Cherish Cronmiller. The panel will explore both landlord and tenant perspectives on the challenges for ending the moratorium.

This event is open to the public with CLE credit for participating attorneys. Attendance is free, donations are encouraged for Bar members and can be made at cjcpbl.org.

Please call or email CJCPBL for registration at [email protected], [email protected], 360-504-2422.

COVID-19: Jury trials cancellations 2021

UPDATED: All jury trials cancelled through October 31, 2021, pursuant to Emergency Order 21-2-00001-05, September 15, 2021.

Because COVID-19 cases are spiking among the unvaccinated, the Clallam County Superior Court has cancelled all jury trials through September 26, 2021.

Masks are required in all courtrooms.

In person court appearances are allowed, but are strongly discouraged. People can “appear” for their court hearings by Zoom in all Clallam County Superior courtrooms, and in District Court I.

Criminal cases. All people involved in impacted criminal cases will need to appear in court to obtain a new court date. Failure to do so will result in a bench warrant for your arrest. Contact your attorney for more information.

Bench trials (trials without a jury) are scheduled to continue without interruption, although CCB.com recommends everyone check with their lawyer or the court clerks office.

Clallam County is currently experiencing it’s highest ever pandemic rates of COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and deaths. No indoor location is safe, and outdoor contacts should be managed very carefully. Social distancing, hand washing, face masks, and vaccinations are what will help bring this under control.

Full version of EO 21-08-27

COVID-19-Emergency-Order-21-08-27Download

COVID: Eviction news

To help ease the challenges for landlords and tenants as we all work our way through the pandemic troubles, Presiding Judge Brent Basden has issued orders to ease eviction challenges.

Judge Basden has issued two Administrative Orders on behalf of Clallam County Superior Court regarding the Eviction Resolution Pilot Program and Right to Counsel for Indigent Defendants in Unlawful Detainer Proceedings. The Eviction Standing Order and Eviction Right to Counsel administrative orders are below. Clallam County Bar recommends landlords and tenants read the orders carefully, and either seek legal advice for understanding them or attend any relevant informational programs (search Google for available programs).

Eviction-Standing-Order-2021Download
Eviction-Right-to-Counsel-Admin-Order-2021Download

Seeking Attorney for Housing Justice Project Clallam-Jefferson county

The Clallam-Jefferson County Pro Bono Lawyers group is hiring a staff attorney for a grant funded Housing Justice Project.

The Housing Justice Project (HJP) is a homelessness prevention program providing accessible legal services to low-income, residential tenants facing eviction in Clallam and Jefferson Counties. Legal assistance is through counsel and advice, negotiated settlements, limited representation at Show Cause hearings, or trial when appropriate, and/or referrals depending on tenants’ needs and financial eligibility.

General Information: Clallam Jefferson County Pro Bono Lawyer’s new HJP Staff Attorney will participate in housing clinics/consultations and offer direct legal assistance to tenants facing eviction. This is often “day of” assistance, with tenants and the HJP Staff Attorney connecting at the show cause hearing occurring at Clallam or Jefferson County Superior Court and CJCPBL community office.  When using the CJCPBL community office, CJCPBL will cover office expenses including office space, secretarial assistance, and printing/copy costs, internet, and phone costs.  When using a home office or another location to work remotely, the Staff Attorney is responsible for covering those independent costs.  

This is a part-time position requiring travel within Clallam and Jefferson Counties. Employment with CJCPBL is at-will. This position is for a limited period based on grant funding available and it is subject to termination by you or CJCPBL, with or without cause, with or without notice, and at any time.

Advocacy: 

  • Work with CJCPBL staff to develop and meet priorities and program goals;
  • Provide direct representation of clients, including but not limited to one-time consultation and advice, brief services including motion hearings, negotiation/formal mediation, litigation; 
  • Work with, train and mentor volunteers to provide legal advice and limited representation to tenants;
  • Understanding and familiarity with RCW 59.18 Residential Landlord Tenant Act and RCW 59.12 Forcible Entry and Unlawful Detainers; and,
  • Keep up with legislative and regulatory changes and Governor Orders affecting tenant rights.

Administrative and Supervisory: 

  • Review and oversee data input in Legal Server data management system;
  • Assist and participate in the development of staff attorney and volunteer training materials and trainings;
  • Work with local service providers to refer cases for rent assistance.

Qualifications:

  • Licensed to practice law and in good standing in Washington state;
  • Experience with civil procedure, courtroom protocol, and rules of evidence;
  • Experience in housing law including courtroom and trial experience preferred;
  • Familiarity with affordable housing programs;
  • Demonstrated commitment to understanding and addressing issues facing low-income and vulnerable people;
  • Strong communication skills and ability to motivate and lead;
  • Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with diverse groups of people;
  • Demonstrated ability to work with limited-English proficient clients and clients with physical or mental disabilities;
  • Demonstrated ability to handle multiple tasks and meet deadlines;
  • Ability to analyze information quickly and work well in a fast-paced environment;
  • Creative problem solving and mediation skills;
  • Proficiency with technology including MS Word, case management systems, Excel, and Outlook;
  • Valid Washington State Driver’s Licensed and Insurance.

About Clallam-Jefferson County Pro Bono Lawyers

Clallam-Jefferson County Pro Bono Lawyers is a non-profit, volunteer lawyer program serving Clallam and Jefferson Counties. We serve low-income clients with civil legal cases and questions, through the strength of our volunteers and staff. Our mission is to provide quality legal assistance to residents of Clallam and Jefferson Counties because we believe justice demands equal access to the legal system

Schedule, Travel, Salary & Benefits

This is a part-time, at-will, contract position requiring weekly travel within Clallam and Jefferson Counties.  Pay is at an hourly rate of $100 per hour with a maximum of $25,000, no benefits other than reimbursement for mileage. This is a grant-funded position and could possibly extend depending on whether additional State funding becomes available.  The Clallam County Eviction Docket occurs every Friday morning at 9 am.  The Jefferson County Eviction Docket occurs every Friday afternoon at 1 pm.  The attorney hired for this position will need to be available to attend both dockets on a weekly basis, consistently, and in-person or by Phone/Zoom, as is requested by the Court. The attorney hired for this position will need to meet with clients prior to the Friday dockets in order to prepare court pleadings and prepare for court.  If trial is appropriate, trials usually occur on Mondays in both counties and the hired attorney would need to be available for trial and work with the court staff in both counties to coordinate availability in both counties.

Application Process

To apply, submit a cover letter describing your interest and qualification for this position, a current resume, and list of three professional references to [email protected] by August 1st 2021.  For additional questions, contact Shauna Rogers McClain, Executive Director, at 360-504-2422.

Shauna Rogers McClain
Executive Director
Clallam-Jefferson County Pro Bono Lawyers
360.504.2422

Landlord tenant lawyers and the pandemic

If you are looking for a lawyer to help you with a landlord tenant matter in Clallam County, try calling the lawyers on this page.

The COVID troubles

It’s not easy for tenants or landlords during the the COVID-19 pandemic. ClallamCountyBar.com encourages everyone to be polite and respectful and to try to work things out on your own. Nobody “wins” in court. For tenants, please remember that legal problems can follow you for a long time, and for Landlords, please keep in mind that if an out of court solution is possible, it might lead to a best case outcome for you. We wish everyone the best in these difficult times.

If you are a lawyer practicing landlord tenant law in Clallam County, you can be listed on the Real Estate page. Just contact us.