Prosecutor: I Didn’t Know Guns Were Found

If she had known a gun was found at the shop where Ron and Luella Bingham were murdered, she would not have concealed it from Ken Arrasmith’s defense attorneys, Nez Perce County Prosecutor Denise Rosen says.

But she said she has confidence the Nez Perce County Sheriff’s officers who did find a handgun at the crime scene and did not enter it as evidence are telling the truth in explaining their actions… to determine what needs to be done,” Rosen said. She is currently in Boise.

On Monday, Arrasmith’s attorneys filed separate motions seeking a new trial or to have the charges against their client dismissed based on allegations sheriff’s department officials hid evidence in order to protect the son of Capt. Scott Whitcomb.

Throughout the trial, the prosecution challenged Arrasmith’s claim of self-defense by pointing out no weapons were found at the East Lewiston auto repair shop where the May 17, 1995, murders took place.

But Wednesday, in a prepared statement, Sheriff Ron Koeper admitted Sgt. Jim Colvin found a gun inside a workbench at the shop and he and Whitcomb determined the gun had not been recently fired and was not relevant to the murder case.

Craig Mosman, Arrasmith’s attorney, contends the gun belongs to Cliff Whitcomb, the captain’s son, and it and another gun found at the scene were returned to him by his father the day of the killings without being tested.

In an unsigned affidavit accompanying the motions, Scott Whitcomb allegedly confirms that is what happened and Koeper knew about it.

Second District Judge Ida Rudolph Leggett will listen to arguments on Mosman’s motions Feb. 16.