PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal judge in Portland, Ore., has delayed the trial of a couple accused in a Northwest crime spree that claimed four lives, including an Everett couple.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Ancer Haggerty decided to postpone the trial of David “Joey” Pedersen and Holly Ann Grigsby two more months, from May 5 to July 7 next year.
The Oregonian reports Grigsby’s lawyers also asked for another delay. They want the judge to postpone until next year hearings that will determine whether Attorney General Eric Holder pursues the death penalty. The judge said he would decide on that request by Monday.
Pedersen and Grigsby are accused of a white supremacist conspiracy in the 2011 killing of an Oregon man, a California man and Pedersen’s father and stepmother in Everett.
Pedersen already is serving two life sentences for murdering his father David “Red” Pedersen and his wife, DeeDee Pedersen. He pleaded guilty earlier last year in Snohomish County Superior Court.
Red Pedersen, 56, was shot once in the back of the head while he drove the young couple to the bus station in Everett. Joey Pedersen was accused of firing the fatal shot. Investigators believe the pair returned to the Everett couple’s home to kill DeeDee Pedersen, 69.
Police found her bound with duct tape. Her throat had been slashed. The evidence suggests that Grigsby wielded the knives, court papers said. Grigsby reportedly killed the Everett grandmother in keeping with her code that a man shouldn’t kill a woman, according to the federal indictment.
Investigators believe after the killings in Everett, the pair headed to Oregon, where they are accused of killing Cody Myers, 19. They also are accused of fatally shooting Reginald Clark, a disabled black man.
The couple was indicted last year on federal racketeering charges that allege the pair’s violent crime rampage was an effort to “purify” and “preserve” the white race.
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