Judge Cancels Murder Retrial

Wed., Feb. 4, 1998

Associated Press

The second murder trial of Stephen Whelchel has been canceled by Grant County Superior Court Judge Evan E. Sperline.

The trial had been scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Whelchel was sent back to the state penitentiary at Walla Walla while the state appeals a federal court decision granting him a new trial. U.S. District Judge Robert Whaley of Spokane has allowed a stay of his ruling.

In November, Whaley granted Whelchel’s plea for a second trial, saying Whelchel did not receive a fair trial in King County for the killing of Emargo McKee, 18.

The state asked Whaley last week to postpone the trial until the state’s appeal is decided.

That appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could take at least a year.

Whelchel was convicted of murdering McKee in 1987 and was sentenced to 27 years in prison.

But Whaley ordered a new trial for the 31-year-old former Moses Lake man, noting that he was not allowed to confront two co-defendants who had made statements against him.

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