Man who served 38 years in Victoria woman’s death expected to be freed on U.S. murder charges
An American man who served time in Canada for killing a Victoria woman in 1978 is expected to go free on charges that he murdered another woman in Port Angeles that same year.
A judge in Clallam County has ruled that the murder charges against Tommy Ross Jr. will be dismissed because his right to a speedy trial was violated.
The county prosecuting attorney’s office said it will immediately appeal the ruling.
But Michele Devlin, chief criminal deputy prosecuting attorney, said it’s likely Ross, 60, will be released from the county jail following a hearing on Tuesday.
“We respectfully disagree with the judge’s decision and we will be appealing it,” she said in a telephone interview Friday.
“Based upon the criminal history of Mr. Ross, there’s a community safety concern.”
Ross served 38 years in Canada for strangling 26-year-old Janice Aili Forbes at her Queens Avenue apartment in 1978.
He was released on full parole from an Abbotsford prison in November 2016 and deported to the U.S., where he was arrested at the border and returned to Clallam County.
He faces murder charges in the death of 20-year-old Janet Bowcutt, who died in her Port Angeles apartment a few weeks before Forbes was killed. Both Bowcutt and Forbes were mothers of young children.
The prosecuting attorney’s office said in a statement that Ross was arrested in Los Angeles in 1978 on the Victoria and Port Angeles murder charges. He waived extradition and agreed to return to Victoria to face the murder charge here, the statement said.
The prosecuting attorney’s office at the time released Ross from a Clallam County arrest warrant on the understanding that he would return to the U.S. following his trial in Canada.
The office later learned, however, that Ross would have to serve his Canadian sentence before being turned over to U.S. authorities.
A judge ruled last week that the decision to release Ross from the Clallam County warrant in order to face trial in Canada violated his right to a speedy trial in the U.S.
The prosecuting attorney’s office said the judge reached his decision despite the fact that Ross turned down opportunities to return to the U.S. to face trial on multiple occasions since 1988.
Prosecutors said Ross is expected to return to family in Sacramento, California, upon his release. Ross’s lawyer, Lane Wolfley, could not be reached for comment on Friday.