As of Sept. 16, there were six pending murder trials in Kitsap County Superior Court.
Today, there is only one.
Kimberly Forder, 44, is charged with homicide by abuse and first-degree manslaughter in the death of her 8-year-old son, Christopher Forder, on Nov. 24, 2002. She remains in Kitsap County Jail on $1 million bail.
Kitsap County Prosecutors scored two guilty verdicts before juries and received three guilty pleas to nearly wipe clean the slate of those awaiting trials for homicide.
Guilty by trial were Martin Warren, a 36-year-old Seabeck man convicted of the first-degree shooting death murder of his father, Russell Warren, in October 2004, and Richeal Rhoades, 22, ruled guilty of second-degree murder due to the December 2005 neglectful death of her daughter, Brenda, in Jackson Park.
Warren received a life sentence and Rhoades an 18 year sentence.
Those pleading guilty were: Larry Clark, 33, to the first-degree murder and stabbing death of Marty Smith, a Kitsap Mental Health professional in Poulsbo in November 2005; Bryan Matsen, to the first-degree murder and shooting deaths of his wife and step-son in East Bremerton, also in November 2005; and Zachary Santos, 20, to the second-degree shooting death of John Taueli, 23, in an East Bremerton parking lot in August 2006.
Clark received a 30-year sentence; Santos a 16-year recommended sentence from prosecutors; and Matsen a recommended life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Is there any chance that Forder’s husband will be brought back here for trial, too?
Linda,
That’s a good question, and I can only provide a vague answer. Defense attorneys for Forder have said they may seek to send a private investigator to Africa for interviews with the family. That may mean that some could testify at her possible trial, and thus he could be brought back as well.