Citing Idaho’s new law on firing squads as a method of execution, a motion challenging the death penalty for a former Grangeville man has been granted by a Second District Judge.
The Lewiston Tribune reports Judge Mark Monson made the decision at a motion hearing Tuesday at the Nez Perce County Courthouse.
57-year-old Richard Ross is facing the death penalty and a first-degree murder charge for the death of his former brother-in-law Michael Devin, and Devin’s mother, Edwina “Eddy” Devin. Ross has pleaded not guilty to the charges and he is being held without bond.
Ross is charged in the case that began when Eddy Devin’s body was found in her home in Grangeville on Sept. 30, 2021, and the next morning first responders found the remains of Michael Devin inside a burning pickup truck in Lewiston. Both were strangled and had duct tape on their faces.
Ross is also the lead suspect in the strangulation deaths of Bruce and Lynn Peeples, who died in their home in Grangeville in 1994. He hasn’t been charged in the case, but authorities have reopened the investigation.
