Ex-Pasco cop's appeal focuses on DNA discovered 30 years after Spokane murder

The DNA that linked a former Pasco police officer to a 1986 homicide could become the central reason for a new trial. Appellate judges Robert Lawrence-Berrey, Tracy A. Staab, and Megan Murphy questioned both a Spokane deputy prosecutor and the defense attorney regarding the evidence connecting 61-year-old Richard Aguirre to the killing of 27-year-old Ruby Doss.

Defense attorney Todd Maybrown explained that prosecutors only pursued charges after DNA was discovered in 2018 inside a brown paper bag that had held a condom from the crime scene. Spokane Deputy Prosecutor Brett Pearce countered that DNA was only one part of the evidence Judge Jeremy Schmidt reviewed before convicting Aguirre of first-degree murder.

Aguirre, convicted in 2024 following a second trial in which he waived his right to a jury, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Doss body had been found near Playfield Race Course in 1986, while Aguirre was a 19-year-old Air Force member. Her death remained unsolved until 2015, when DNA from a condom at the scene was linked to Aguirre.

However, Maybrown noted that Doss DNA was never found on the condom itself. No female DNA was identified during any testing related to the condom, he stated, adding that expert witnesses consistently testified there was no evidence of a female contributor. He also mentioned that the condom had been tested in 1989 and largely destroyed, but the company preserving the sample later provided DNA for police analysis.

Although the 2015 DNA findings led to murder charges, prosecutors initially dropped the case, possibly due to insufficient evidence. In 2018, DNA believed to be Doss was detected inside the paper bag that had held the condom. Maybrown argued this could be cross-contamination from handling and modern touch DNA transfers.

Pearce maintained that there was no indication of mishandling by those testing the DNA and emphasized that other evidence linked Aguirre to Doss. Court records show Aguirre admitted to having sex with Doss and confessed to strangling her to colleagues. The trial judge had already accounted for potential issues with the DNA evidence, giving it less weight.

During the appeal, Judge Lawrence-Berrey pressed Pearce on why Doss DNA appeared on the bag but not the condom. Pearce explained that testing techniques improved significantly between 1989 and 2015. The judges requested further details on the DNA evidence and whether it was admissible at trial.

Author: Logan Reeves