SPOKANE, Wash. – The judge in the retrial of the former Pasco police officer, Richard Aguirre, has found him guilty of murdering a Spokane woman in 1986 Tuesday afternoon.
The Spokane Police Department used DNA evidence to link Aguirre to the killing of a Spokane woman in 1986. The homicide charge was initially dropped over issues with evidence, but re-filed in 2020 after the DNA evidence came to light.
The retrial for Aguirre is in response to the jurors not coming to an unanimous decision during his first trial. But the difference between the first trial and the current is that Aguirre has no jurors in a “bench trial.” Prosecutors will have to convince only one person of Aguirre’s guilt: the Judge.
Opening statements for this trial began on Nov. 29.
At the beginning of the trial, prosecutors dove into the original 1986 murder investigation into ruby doss’s death. They described how she was killed – she was beaten, stabbed and strangled.
Doss’s DNA from the crime scene was also brought back into trial after being preserved for 37 years.
Ruby Doss worked as a prostitute in Spokane in the mid-eighties, and Aguirre’s attorney says the evidence in this case does not point to him. Instead, it points to Doss’s pimp.
Prosecutors revisited Doss’s death in-depth to prove Richard Aguirre was her killer. Meanwhile, the defense pushed back on the investigative practices of the time.
Video footage of the crime scene was shown the night the murder happened. Carrie Christen, a now-retired Identification Officer with the Spokane County Forensic Unit, said they were sent back the following morning, where she says conditions were more ideal, “there was light so we could see what we were doing.”
Richard Aguirre was found guilty of first-degree murder and he could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
His sentencing will take place on Feb. 5 at 8:30 a.m.
