This day in history: Judge stepped aside in mail bombing murder case; investigation indicated death was accident, not murder
Superior Court Judge William H. Williams disqualified himself from presiding over the second trial of Ricky Anthony Young, who was accused of killing a Pasco judge with a mail bomb, The Spokesman-Review reported on April 2, 1975. (Spokesman-Review archives)
From 1975: Superior Court Judge William H. Williams disqualified himself from presiding over the second trial of Ricky Anthony Young, who was accused of killing a Pasco judge with a mail bomb.
Williams presided over the first trial, which ended in a mistrial. Williams said that Young had received a fair trial “in every respect,” but this case was particularly sensitive.
“Because this case involves the death of another judge, even though no prejudice exists, I think it especially necessary that there be every appearance of fairness at the trial,” Williams said. “So I voluntarily withdraw myself.”
A second trial was tentatively scheduled for June.
From 1925: Did the “murder mystery” at the Model Hotel on North Division Street involve a murder at all?
Authorities were now wondering whether W.H. Heinze’s death might simply have been a drunken accident.
Police originally believed he had been murdered, because he was found dead in his bed with a broken jaw and a “hole in his head” caused by a sharp instrument.
After interviewing witnesses, a different possibility emerged.
Hotel residents and staff reported that Heinze had been “drinking denatured alcohol” and was staggering around drunk that evening. One man helped Heinze to his room after he fell down in the hallway. The man noticed that there was blood on his hands after he helped Heinze into his bed.
He said Heinze was “cursing and swearing that he was going to kill someone.”
The hotel landlady reported that Heinze had been ranting that “he had it on for someone and was going to get them.” She also said she had later seen a man lying down in the washroom, but didn’t check to see who it was.
Perhaps he had gone into the washroom, had fallen and struck his head?
That was a possibility, but police could not explain how he could have undressed, hung up his clothes, and gone to bed if he had been that seriously injured in the washroom.
The investigation was hindered by the fact the Model Hotel had been the scene of many drunken parties, and many witnesses “were all too drunk” to remember what had happened.