is going

to bring

them back'

Victims' kin seek justice;

one relative wants it over

WINSLOW -- While some relatives of the victims of the 1989 Bainbridge Island triple slayings are demanding that prosecutors file a third murder charge against Douglas Stanfield, at least one believes it's time to let the victims rest in peace.

"Nothing is going to bring them back," Bobbie Jean Phillips-VanOstran, the sister of murder victim JayDee Phillips, told The Sun Wednesday afternoon. She was not present at the news conference called Wednesday by some family members.

"I loved my brother very much, but this whole thing gets stirred up over and over and it does nobody any good," Phillips-VanOstran said. "My dad is so upset all the time. I don't think they should stop investigating, but it's time to let this all die down. The families need some peace."

But other relatives of victims Phillips, Ann Rice and Ty McCollough disagree.

If Kitsap prosecutor Dan Clem won't prosecute Stanfield for Rice's murder, they said, the public should apply a little pressure. If that doesn't work, then maybe a special prosecutor or another investigative agency should be brought in to do the job, they said.

In a plea agreement, Stanfield was sentenced on two murder charges and the third one, for Rice, was dropped.

Clem said he's already explained to the families that filing additional charges against Stanfield, who's currently serving nearly 42 years in prison for shooting Phillips and McCollough, would be "premature" because of appeals and possibly could result in legal problems.

"We explained to the families, but obviously, we didn't do a very good job of it," Clem said.

When the decision is made "we will take the feelings of the Rice family into consideration. They're entitled to their day in court."

A day in court is just what the families want.

Rice's father, Steve, and McCollough's mother, Sandy, said they're afraid the whole truth never will come out unless there is a trial.

All of the parents refuse to believe their children were involved in drug dealing as Stanfield alleged in his confessions.

"From the moment Douglas Stanfield stepped forward and began to weave his story of Ty, Ann and JayDee 'ripping off' a drug dealer, this became the motive and both (prosecutors and Kitsap County sheriff's detectives) began to lay the foundation in this case," the families said in a prepared statement. "We have continued to question both agencies as to what proof exists that our children were murdered because of the involvement of drugs. The only evidence to date that we have been informed of is (Stanfield's) statement."

McCollough said if authorities would give up on drugs as a motive and pursue other avenues, they might have better luck in determining if others were involved in the murders.

Reporters asked each family if their children were involved with drugs. JayDee Phillips' father, Jim, and Rice's father, Steve, said no.

But McCollough said since her son's death, she's learned he experimented with cocaine with some friends. She was reluctant to admit that, she said, because she was afraid it would be blown out of proportion by the media.

But she, too, denied any of the three were involved in drug dealing, pointing out blood tests revealed none of them had any drugs in their system the night they were killed.

McCollough said she had been in her son's pickup truck the night of the slayings, and there was no aluminum brief case inside as Stanfield has alleged. The bodies of the three were found in that truck later that night.

In his confession, Stanfield said he and two others met the islanders on an isolated road to purchase 10 ounces of cocaine, contained in an aluminum briefcase. But one of his companions shot and killed the three, took the briefcase of cocaine and forced him to shoot all three too, Stanfield said.

When Stanfield pleaded guilty to two counts of murder last September and agreed to testify against others implicated in the slayings, prosecutors dropped charges involving Rice's death.

Later Stanfield recanted his confession and tried to withdraw his guilty plea, but that effort was rejected. Last month Kitsap Superior Court Judge Leonard Kruse sentenced Stanfield to nearly 42 years in prison, far longer than the guidelines in the state's Sentencing Reform Act.

Last week, prosecutors stunned everyone by dropping murder charges against the second defendant, Robert Welsh. They said Stanfield refused to testify against Welsh, and that new evidence tended to exonerate Welsh.

Clem said there's no question Stanfield has reneged on his plea agreement, but he's appealing both the exceptionally long sentence and the judge's refusal to let him withdraw his guilty plea.

After the appeals are heard -- six months to a year from now -- a decision should be made on filing further charges, the prosecutor said.

If prosecutors tried him now for Rice's murder and the courts later allowed him to withdraw his guilty plea, there would have to be a second, very costly trial, Clem said. But more importantly, Clem added, the state might be barred from trying Stanfield for the murders of Phillips and McCollough because rules require the cases be tried together.

That's not good enough, family members say.