Murder Suspect Says He Doesn’t Recall Killings Taped Testimony Played For Jury In Trial Over Deaths Of Two Orchard Workers

Jurors heard a tape-recorded statement Thursday in which Tony Sammons told police he can’t remember the Sept. 27 double murder he and Scott Pierce are accused of committing.

In the statement, Sammons, 25, said he remembered punching one of the two murdered orchard workers twice in the stomach at Pierce’s house in Omak the night of the killings.

“He punched me back right in the nose,” Sammons said. “I got a bloody nose.”

He said he went to a couch to treat his nose and “started drinking a little beer.” He said he had been drinking all day and soon passed out.

Sammons, on trial for two counts of aggravated first-degree murder, said he couldn’t remember whether he struck Alejandro Sanchez Torres, 24, or Guillermo Roman Herrera, 21.

Their battered bodies were found the next morning in the Okanogan River near the Omak Stampede grounds. The victims, both from Mexico, were misidentified in earlier stories because authorities reversed their family names.

Sammons’ memory improved somewhat in the course of the 35-minute taped interview. But he insisted he couldn’t remember being at the spot where Sanchez Torres and Roman Herrera were tossed into the river while still alive.

However, Washington State Patrol forensic scientist William Schneck said there was no question that a footprint at the crime scene was made by Sammons’ hiking shoe.

Omak Police Sgt. Frank Rogers testified Thursday that Sammons gave more incriminating information when he was arrested the night after the slayings. Even then, Rogers said, Sammons insisted he couldn’t remember what happened at the river.

Rogers said Sammons told him he “didn’t feel that drunk” during the first interview even though Sammons said he’d had “quite a bit to drink.” Rogers agreed Sammons showed signs of intoxication, but said he seemed “coherent” during the first interview.

Sammons’ speech seemed laborious and he occasionally groped for words during the second taped interview.

Sammons said he and Pierce, 20, gave the orchard workers a ride after trying unsuccessfully to fix the workers’ car, which broke down on a road near Okanogan. They went to a bar together and then to Pierce’s house.

Outside the house, a fight broke out between Pierce and one of the Mexican men, Sammons said.

Sammons said he couldn’t remember the cause of the dispute except that Pierce “said something about him trying to rip him off or something.”

At one point, the two men stopped fighting while Pierce called someone to talk about the fight, Sammons said.

Earlier Thursday, Pierce’s girlfriend, Freda Counts, testified that Pierce called her to brag that he was beating up one of the orchard workers. She said he struck the man while they were talking so she could hear the blow.

“He said the Mexicans pulled a knife on him and wanted (Sammons’) van,” Counts said.

Rogers said Sammons told him a similar story in their first interview. Despite the purported theft attempt, Sammons claimed the men continued to drink and party together, Rogers said.

Counts said Sammons told her “he was beating up the Mexicans and got a scratch from it.” She said he also told about holding one of the victims’ heads under water.

Testimony so far has not supported speculation that the murders may have been racially motivated.

Court documents indicate Pierce is at least part Hispanic, even though police describe him as a white American. Pierce has requested a Spanish-speaking interpreter for his upcoming trial, claiming he has difficulty understanding English.

, DataTimes