Appeals court rules on Bass’ appeal of his conviction in 1989 murder of Mandy Stavik
The Washington State Court of Appeals has upheld the murder conviction of Timothy Forrest Bass, the Everson man convicted of the 1989 abduction, rape and murder of Amanda “Mandy” Stavik.
The Court of Appeals Division 1 ruled Tuesday, June 1, that 53-year-old Bass’ 2019 conviction for first-degree murder would stand.
While the appeals court determined that the Whatcom County Superior Court wrongly applied a 1990 version of the state’s felony murder law in convicting Bass, rather than the 1989 version, it determined it was a harmless error. The appeals court rejected the rest of Bass’ arguments challenging the DNA evidence linking him to the crime, insufficient evidence of kidnapping or rape and ineffective assistance by his defense attorneys, among other things.
Stavik disappeared Nov. 24, 1989, while jogging near her home on Strand Road in Clipper, near Acme in Whatcom County. Three days later, the 18-year-old’s nude body was found in the south fork of the Nooksack River.
On July 2, 2019, Bass was sentenced to nearly 27 years in prison — almost as much time as he was free — for killing Stavik. A jury found Bass guilty of first-degree murder May 24, 2019, after a three-week trial in Whatcom County Superior Court. The jury also returned special verdicts finding Bass guilty of first-degree rape, attempted first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping and attempted first-degree kidnapping.
One of the ways to charge first-degree murder in Washington state is if a person commits or attempts to commit the crimes of rape or kidnapping and in the course of those actions, causes the death of another person.
Bass maintained his innocence and filed his appeal immediately following his conviction.
Bass can now ask the Washington State Supreme Court to review the appellate court’s decision upholding his conviction.
Bass is currently incarcerated at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Appellate decision
Six of Bass’ arguments were rejected on their merits, including:
▪ After Stavik’s death in 1989, a DNA profile was created from evidence taken from her body during an autopsy. After Bass twice refused to give a voluntary sample, detectives tried to obtain DNA evidence from his work, Franz Bakery. Franz declined, but fellow coworker Kim Wagner learned of the sheriff’s office’s investigation, collected a plastic cup and Coke can Bass drank out of and turned the items over to detectives, court records show.
Bass’ DNA matched the suspect profile, which led to his arrest, according to court records. Defense attorneys originally tried to suppress the DNA evidence, meaning it couldn’t be used at trial, but a Whatcom judge ruled at a hearing in late August 2018 that it could be admitted as evidence.
▪ In his appeal, Bass argued that Wagner was an agent of the state, or acting on behalf of law enforcement, when she collected the cup and Coke can with his DNA on them. But the appellate court disagreed, finding that there was “substantial evidence” to show Wagner acted of her own accord.
▪ The appellate court also found there was sufficient direct and circumstantial evidence to prove Bass abducted and raped Stavik before her death, the records show.
▪ It also upheld the ruling of a Whatcom judge to not allow Bass’ defense attorneys to present diary entries from the last year of Stavik’s life during trial.
Second appeal
Bass has a second pending appeal that centers around review of a Whatcom County Superior Court judge’s decision late last year denying Bass an evidentiary hearing that a former defense attorney argued would cast doubt on Bass’ conviction.
A judge ruled in early November that an evidentiary hearing presenting the evidence Bass’ former defense attorney had about a potential suspect who was believed to have never been investigated would not be held because the evidence was available to the defense and could have been developed before the trial. The judge also denied Bass’ motion for relief from judgment, which would have been a dismissal of his conviction or a new trial.
Bass was appointed an outside attorney in the case after the Whatcom County Public Defender’s office requested to be removed from representing Bass. Bass’ new attorney then appealed the judge’s decision to the appeals court.
That appeals case is still pending, court records show.
This story was originally published June 2, 2021 at 12:34 PM.
