‘I Didn’t Do It’ Wrong Guy Was Charged In Murder

For three gut-wrenching months, Robert Bell insisted he was the “wrong guy” - as in the wrong man to be arrested and charged with killing someone.

Bell spent 12 days in a jail cell before a judge let him out pending trial.

Now, authorities admit the case against the 69-year-old Spokane man is too thin to bring before a jury.

The first-degree murder charge quietly was dismissed Thursday, ending Bell’s nightmare.

“I didn’t do it, and I want people to know that,” the former laborer said.

“It doesn’t mean anybody is off scot-free,” said Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Ed Hay. “We had evidence pointing different directions. A critical state’s witness proved unreliable.”

It’s worse than that.

The purported lone eyewitness to the May 27 sidewalk shooting, William Talley, may be lying.

After Bell was arrested and charged with murder, police asked Talley to take a lie-detector test.

He flunked.

Equally troubling is Talley’s checkered past, including a 1990 manslaughter conviction in Spokane and a record of assaults.

After Talley’s account of the killing crumbled, Hay took the unusual step of recommending that an accused killer be released from jail on personal recognizance. Bail had been set at $250,000.

“I felt it was only fair,” the prosecutor said.

“They realized they made a mistake and charged the wrong guy,” said defense attorney Scott Mason.

Hay waited weeks before dismissing the charge, however, hoping investigators could shore up the case with an 11th-hour breakthrough.

Mason now questions why his client, who has no criminal record, was put through an emotional grinder. Talley’s brushes with the law should have given authorities ample reason to proceed with caution, he said.

Spokane police detective Minde Connelly, who headed the investigation, refused comment.

Bell doesn’t blame Connelly for his ordeal.

“The detective, she believed what they told her. And they lied …,” he said.

“I feel good for him,” said Lillie Hamlin, who rents a room to Bell. “I don’t think he’s capable of hurting a fly.”

After the shooting, Bell fell under immediate suspicion.

From a police standpoint, that was understandable.

The body of the victim - 45-year-old Ollie Williams - was found in front of Bell’s apartment on East Second.

There was more: Bell and Williams were seen together earlier that day.

This is where Talley comes in.

He told police Bell and Williams got into a heated argument over stolen checks while riding around town that night.

Talley, who was driving, parked the Mercury Bobcat in front of Bell’s apartment.

Bell pulled a .38-caliber revolver from his pocket and dared Williams to get out of the car, according to Talley.

When Williams did, Bell shot the man twice at close range, Talley said.

One bullet punctured the victim’s heart. The other passed through his right hip and buttocks, according to the autopsy report.

Only Talley claims to have seen the shooting, but police said another man, Richard Thomas, was willing to testify that Bell confessed to the shooting less than a week later.

Thomas, it turns out, has his own credibility problems. He’s a friend of Talley’s, according to Mason.

Attempts to find Talley were unsuccessful.

If their stories aren’t believable, then who killed Williams?

Nobody really knows. Not even Bell.

“I only know I didn’t do it. I wouldn’t hurt Ollie,” he said.

If new evidence surfaces, another murder charge can be filed - even against Bell. Until then, the case is just another unsolved homicide.

That comes as a blow to the relatives of the victim, a longtime Spokane resident who worked as a groom at Playfair Race Course.

On Thursday, Hay notified family members of the dropped charge and the reasons behind the move.

Their response, he said, was a mix of “realism and disappointment.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo