Lee to face trial for felony eluding charge before extradition to Idaho
Moscow shooting suspect John Lee will be extradited to Idaho after the conclusion of a trial for a felony eluding charge in Whitman County.
Whitman County Judge David Frazier signed off on the extradition warrant from Washington Gov. Jay Inslee Friday, officially ending the formal extradition process.
Lee, 29, faces three counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in Latah County.
At the request of Lee’s attorney Steve Martonick, Frazier rescheduled the trial date for the eluding charge from March 16 to May 11 to allow more time for the defense to prepare. In moving the trial date, Lee waived his right to a speedy trial and agreed to the May 11 trial date.
Martonick said he needs additional time to sort through the multiple witnesses because there was limited time to prepare for the case. He said he might conduct an attitude survey to ensure the Whitman County jury is not biased by the media attention the case has received thus far.
“There’s a number of hurdles to jump over and go through before we are ready for trial,” Martonick said.
Martonick said Lee’s case is fairly complicated and he needs additional time to investigate and research before going to trial.
Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy said he was not aware of any delay with the case and would have preferred to go to trial in March as previously planned.
Tracy said he would look at the felony eluding case and decide how to proceed given the new trial date.
Once the felony eluding trial is completed, Tracy said Lee will be transferred to Idaho as laid out in Inslee’s extradition warrant. If convicted, Tracy said Lee would likely not serve any prison time in Washington as he faces more serious charges in Idaho.
“Realistically, I don’t expect he’s getting out of prison in Idaho, and so he’s not going to have to serve time in Washington,” Tracy said.
Ryan Tarinelli can be reached at [email protected]