Page 19 - Flathead Beacon // 12.9.15

Richard Raugust appears at a bail hearing on Dec. 4.
GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
my best friend Joe. Our families, friends and I can then try to salvage what’s left of my life.”
After a few tearful and triumphant hugs, Raugust drove o toward Missoula with his family, tracking along the Clark Fork River with his shing rod in hand and a pizza lunch on his mind, savoring the rst precious moments of freedom.
The latest turn in Raugust’s case came last month, when District Court Judge James B. Wheelis concluded that Raugust’s rights were violated at his 1998 murder trial under a legal rule that requires disclosure of evidence favorable to a defendant – in Raugust’s case, testi- mony from a sheri ’s deputy that would have bolstered his alibi, which has never faltered.
In granting Raugust’s request for a new trial, the judge wrote that the new evidence, which Raugust’s legal team has exhaustively mounted, “put the entire case against [Raugust] in such a di erent light as to undermine con dence in the verdict at the underlying trial.”
The guilty verdict was handed down in March 1998 by a Sanders County jury, which sat deadlocked for 10 hours before reaching a unanimous decision late at night.
overturned, he is once again presumed innocent of the crime, and the burden of proof is returned to the state.
“Richard Raugust spent 6,708 days, which amounts to 18 years, 4 months, and 11 days, behind bars for a murder we believe he did not commit,” his pro bono
attorney, Brett Schandelson, said. “For these many years, justice was not served for Richard or for the family of Joe Tash, Richard’s longtime friend who was mur- dered. We take a huge step towards rem- edying that injustice today.”
From the moment of his arrest,
Raugust has insisted that he did not mur- der Tash at a remote campsite the two men shared near Trout Creek, and his story has never wavered.
He has maintained that on July 23, 1997, he, Tash and a man named Rory Ross were drinking at the Naughty Pine Saloon in Trout Creek when, just after closing time, the trio climbed into Ross’ 1985 AMC Eagle, planning to move the party to the camper-trailer Tash and Raugust shared in the nearby Swamp Creek area.
After idling outside Miller’s Market, across the highway from the Naughty Pine, Ross pulled out onto Highway 200 and headed for the campsite. But Raugust said he had second thoughts about the late-night party; knowing he had an ear- ly-morning painting job, he hopped out of Ross’ car 200 yards from the bar, near the intersection of Fir Street, and walked to an acquaintance’s house to crash.
He says he was sleeping at the time of the murder, and didn’t hear the report of a single-barrel shotgun blast, which killed Tash and set into motion a chain of events that form the substance of his 18-year resolve to prove his innocence.
Raugust says he didn’t learn of his best friend’s murder until the following day, when police arrived at the job site
But with Raugust’s conviction
Richard Raugust listens to proceedings with his attorneys Brett Schandelson, left, and Brendan McQuillan, right.
GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
DECEMBER 9, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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