The second-degree murder trial for a Port Townsend man was pushed back for a third time after a short hearing in Jefferson County Superior Court Friday.
Blake Robert Fox, 38, has been incarcerated …
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The second-degree murder trial for a Port Townsend man was pushed back for a third time after a short hearing in Jefferson County Superior Court Friday.
Blake Robert Fox, 38, has been incarcerated in Jefferson County Jail on $500,000 bail since his arrest Nov. 27.
During his pretrial appearance in court last week, Judge Keith Harper said an eight-day trial is expected.
Harper agreed to reset the trial for Oct. 10 through Oct. 12 and
Oct. 17 through Oct. 20.
Fox is accused of gunning down a 62-year-old Quilcene man as he sat in his living room the day after Thanksgiving. He earlier entered a pleading of “not guilty” to the felony charge of second-degree murder.
Fox was arrested after a 12-hour search that ended when his 2008 Ford F-150 ran out of gas in Chimacum and he fled into the forest near West Valley Road.
A Jefferson County detective was eventually able to get Fox on the phone, and Fox finally agreed to come out of the woods. After he was taken into custody, Fox allegedly told the detective he had thrown his Glock handgun into the woods.
Fox also briefly mentioned the dispute at the home in Quilcene that led to the deadly shooting, allegedly saying: “I should have just left, the way they were talking to me.”
Prosecutors have alleged that Fox shot Robin L. Richards on the night after Thanksgiving as Richards was unarmed and sitting in a chair just inside the front door of his home on McInnis Road in Quilcene.
Authorities allege that Fox had been visiting Richards along with a woman and her 6-year-old daughter.
After Fox stepped outside to smoke a cigarette, he came back in and started shooting, according to court documents.
The woman told a detective that Fox had been standing in the foyer when he opened fire.
After the shots, Richards said, “He killed me,” the witness told police.
The woman also said she saw a weapon in Fox’s hand.
Her 6-year-old daughter had been asleep on a couch at the time, she told investigators.
Fox is believed to have fired at least three times; two bullet holes were found in the front door, and two additional holes were discovered in the chair where Richards had been sitting.
The woman said Fox ran away after the shooting, then came back to see if her daughter was OK. He then allegedly fled the scene in a red Ford F-150 pickup, leading to a 12-hour search that included an appeal by law enforcement for the public’s help on social media, with a post with his driver’s license photo and a photograph of the type of Ford pickup he drove from the scene. Authorities also warned the public that Fox was considered armed and dangerous, was paranoid, and believed to be under the influence of drugs.
Authorities searched Fox’s bedroom at his parents’ house — his parents said he had been told he had to leave their home and they did not know where he was living and didn’t think he had a job, according to court records — and found an AR-15 rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun. Authorities also discovered hundreds of rounds of ammunition in eight different calibers.
