Prosecutors Desk 6-12-11

On Friday afternoon, June 10, a Superior court jury returned a verdict of guilty on three felony counts against Cynthia Hetherington.  The charges were Theft in the Second Degree and two counts of Trafficking in Stolen Property.

The evidence presented to the jury was that in December of 2010, Larry Richmond of Chewelah discovered that his late wife’s wedding rings were missing from the drawer in his bedroom. Chewelah Officer David Watts investigated the loss of the rings.  He discovered the rings had been pawned at the Double Eagle Pawn Shop in Deer Park in early November of 2010.

The records of the pawn transaction showed that the person who had pawned the rings was Cynthia Hetherington. At that time, Ms. Hetherington was one of Mr. Richmond’s home care providers.  She had begun working for Mr. Richmond in mid-October.   When contacted by Officer Watts, Ms Hetherington denied being involved in the disappearance of the rings and the subsequent pawn shop transaction.

The evidence presented to the jury included testimony that at an unemployment hearing, Ms Hetherington claimed to have found the rings across the street from Mr. Richmond’s home.

An interesting legal issue in the case was created by the fact that Mr. Richmond passed away in March of 2011. Because of the rules of evidence and the Constitutional right of a person to confront the witnesses against them, many statements that Mr. Richmond made about the theft could not be admitted into evidence at the trial. This issue of what could be presented to the jury was ironed out in pre-trial motions which are normal in every case where there is a dispute about the statements and evidence that will be admitted.

The case had previously been to trial in April of this year. That jury deliberated for approximately 6 hours and then declared they were deadlocked and unable to reach a decision.  We made the decision to retry the case.   This time, the jury deliberated for 40 minutes and returned verdicts of guilty on all counts.

Deputy Prosecutor Lech Radzimski tried this case on behalf of the State. Sentencing is presently set before Judge Baker on June 21.

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