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Smith, Stephen 7-82; Cashmere, WA - age 30
Topic Started: Aug 23 2017, 02:49 PM (43 Views)
tatertot
Advanced Member
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http://www.yakimaherald.com/news/crime_and...669a54ae95.html

Cold case murder going to trial despite missing evidence
Jefferson Robbins
Wenatchee World Aug 18, 2017 Updated Aug 18, 2017

WENATCHEE — The trial of a man charged this year in a 1982 Cashmere murder will go forward Tuesday after a judge rejected his request to dismiss the case.

Bernard Edmund Swaim, 61, had sought to throw out his charge of first-degree murder in the death of Stephen E. Smith. Chelan County Superior Court Judge Lesley Allan turned down his motion Tuesday, saying the loss of evidence to time was no grounds for dismissal.

Swaim’s attorney Nick Yedinak had argued that missing physical evidence including a bloodstained wooden axhandle, a bloodied mattress and a towel, as well as witness remembrances that may have shown Smith was still alive beyond the suspected date of his murder, amounted to “clearly exculpatory evidence” that was no longer available to aid Swaim’s defense.

But Allan found much of the argument speculative, and said it was not enough to require dismissal.

Swaim, of Sultan, along with Dawn E. Soles, 58, of Leavenworth are accused of conspiring to kill Smith as part of a child custody dispute. Chelan County sheriff’s investigators believe Swaim carried out the murder at Smith’s home in July 1982. The body of the 30-year-old Cashmere man has never been found, but evidence including the axhandle, mattress, towel and a dislodged human tooth were collected at his house.

When sheriff’s detectives reopened the case last January, only the tooth was still held in the county’s evidence repository. Old investigative notes taken at the time indicated that a welfare check made out to Smith was allegedly cashed sometime after his July 1982 disappearance, and that a witness had reported seeing Smith alive in September 1982. Yedinak argued the loss of evidence, the passage of time and the diminishment of witness memories would severely hamper his ability to defend Swaim.

Deputies arrested Swaim and Soles, who were formerly married, last March. Soles allegedly confessed while in custody to planning the murder with Swaim. Her trial is set for Sept. 19.
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