Arrasmith Won’t Get New Trial Judge: Guns Found At Scene Wouldn’t Help His Defense

A judge refused to grant a new trial to convicted murderer Ken Arrasmith on Tuesday, saying guns found at the scene - but never considered evidence - would not have helped his defense.

Second District Judge Ida Leggett said she was “dismayed” with the sheriff and his deputies for not revealing they knew about the weapons, including the gun of a deputy’s son that was found the day Ron and Luella Bingham were murdered.

But the guns were irrelevant, she said.

“The belated discovery of a dusty, holstered, unfired gun in a drawer and in a car…only minimally supports Arrasmith’s testimony, since the evidence is that the guns did not belong to either of the Binghams and that they did not know of their presence,” Leggett ruled.

“No claim has been made and no evidence has been presented that weapons were found near the victims,” Leggett added. “Instead, Ronald Bingham was shot as he lay unarmed beneath a truck working and an unarmed Luella was shot in the back.”

Arrasmith became nationally known as a Western-style vigilante as more than a dozen women came forward after the murders to say the Binghams had sexually assaulted them. Area police were investigating the couple for the rape of Arrasmith’s teenage daughter at the time of the murders.

Last Friday, Arrasmith’s lawyers asked that his November murder conviction be dismissed after Nez Perce County deputies acknowledged in a hearing that they found a gun in the East Lewiston auto shop where Arrasmith shot and killed the Clarkston, Wash., couple May 17. The owner of the auto shop said a second gun was in a nearby car.

The deputies and Sheriff Ron Koeper said they did not think the guns were relevant. They insisted the gun belonging to Cliff Whitcomb, son of Undersheriff Scott Whitcomb, was found in the auto shop and was not part of the crime scene.

Deputies at Arrasmith’s November trial testified no gun was found at the crime scene. Arrasmith testified it appeared Ron Bingham was reaching for a weapon and Luella had one in her hand.

“I know she had a gun,” Arrasmith said by telephone Tuesday from the Nez Perce County Jail. “I believe in my testimony I described them. One was shiny and one was a black automatic, and that’s what they found.”

Defense attorneys learned there were guns at the scene earlier this month and last week asked Leggett to dismiss the case as a sanction against the prosecution.

Leggett said it appears deputies withheld the gun from evidence, at worst, to protect a deputy and his son, who worked in the auto shop. The deputies did not feel the gun was critical to Arrasmith’s defense, Leggett concluded.

Leggett also said the guns would have been of no value in Arrasmith’s defense and did not warrant a new trial.

Promising an appeal, Arrasmith attorney Craig Mosman said he disagreed with Leggett’s finding that the sheriff’s deputies were telling the truth Friday when they said the gun was in a shop drawer.

“I don’t believe you have to believe police officers who lied and conspired together to withhold information that on its face makes it difficult to find them credible,” he said.

“If they’d lie about one thing, they’d lie about another,” said Arrasmith. “Certainly they didn’t want an undersheriff’s son’s gun found at a crime scene.”

Arrasmith is scheduled to be sentenced Monday for the first-degree murder of Luella Bingham and the second-degree murder of Ron Bingham.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo