Tesch’s murder trial opens

Depending on which side the jury believes, James Phillip Tesch either was a plotting killer who coveted his victim’s motorcycle or was one of many people who fearfully obeyed a second suspect.

Attorneys presented opening statements Monday in the first-degree murder trial of Tesch, 40, who is charged with killing 52-year-old Rick Tiwater last September.

A man riding an all-terrain vehicle found Tiwater’s body Sept. 5 off a trail leading from the 13400 block of East Laurel Road in north Spokane County.

The autopsy showed that Tiwater had died from multiple external and internal injuries consistent with being run over by a car.

Ben Alan Burkey, 45, remains in the Spokane County Jail on a first-degree murder charge in connection with Tiwater’s death.

Deputy Prosecutor Eugene Cruz said Tesch and Burkey planned to kill Tiwater because they coveted the Harley-Davidson that Tiwater had purchased recently with money from a settlement from the Social Security Administration.

The motorcycle was found later in Tesch’s garage.

“When their efforts to coerce Rick Tiwater into giving up his bike failed, they simply took the bike and basically dumped Rick Tiwater’s body in the north portion of Spokane County,” Cruz said.

Cruz said he and Deputy Prosecutor Mark Cipolla will call witnesses who will testify that Tesch and Burkey told them to “cover up any evidence that could link them to the death of Mr. Tiwater.”

Defense attorney Senit Lutgen told the seven-woman, five-man jury that the motorcycle had a part in the case but called it “sort of a red herring.

“The evidence is going to show you that Ben Burkey is a very violent man, a very controlling man – the type of man that people have a level of fear that not many of us have probably experienced,” Lutgen said. Burkey “has a way of controlling people and controlling situations and getting what he wants at any costs.”

Burkey, who has 65 previous convictions, had a month to “fashion” a story by coercing the witnesses before he was charged with Tiwater’s death, Lutgen said.

“I’m going to ask you in the end to find my client not guilty because he got roped into something. Literally, he’s a patsy for Ben Burkey,” Lutgen said.

Burkey declined a request for a jailhouse interview Monday.

According to court records, investigators believe Tesch and Burkey assaulted Tiwater in Burkey’s home on Sept. 4.

Then they took Tiwater to the rural area off East Laurel Road, where they ran him over with a 1987 Ford Thunderbird.

Investigators found hair, blood and what appeared to be human skin on the underside of the car, according to court records.

A detached mud flap found near Tiwater’s body was a match with the other mud flap still on the Thunderbird.

Tesch was scheduled to plead guilty in February to second-degree murder but pulled the deal at the last second. Cipolla then amended the charge to first-degree murder.

Lutgen said his client is “overcharged” and is not guilty.

“I really think (Tesch) got sucked into something and he really didn’t know what it was,” Lutgen said.

“I think it’s obvious that Burkey is trying to save himself and doesn’t care who he brings down.”