Ex-Pasco officer Richard Aguirre, arrested in 1986 killing, posts bail

A former Pasco police officer who faces a murder charge in the 1986 killing of a Spokane prostitute has been released from jail pending trial.

The Tri-City Herald reported Richard J. Aguirre was released on bail Friday night after a Spokane County Superior Court judge reduced his bond from $1 million to $500,000.

Aguirre is charged with first-degree murder with sexual motivation in the beating and strangulation of Ruby J. Doss.

His Seattle-based lawyer, John Henry Browne, urged Judge Harold Clarke III to dismiss the charges, arguing that military records show his client was on a deployment overseas at the time of the killing.

Prosecutors say military and medical records – along with Aguirre’s own words – place him in Washington state at the time of the murder.

The judge declined to dismiss the charges.