Court filings shed new light in Wirkkala murder case

As a Bend murder case moves forward, court documents offer new details about the night Luke Wirkkala allegedly killed David Ryder.

A motions hearing was held Monday in the Wirkkala murder case.Many of those motions were efforts by both sides to limit evidence, some of which is crucial information in the case.

Wirkkala, 32, of Bend is accused of shooting and killing 31-year-old David Ryder back in February.

Prosecutors say in court documents that evidence will show both Wirkkala and Ryder were intoxicated that night, and the two engaged in sexual activity.

Wirkkala’s girlfriend and two kids were in the house the night of the shooting.

The defense asked Deschutes County Circuit Judge Stephen Forte to suppress from the trial some statements allegedly made by Wirkkala to police.

“There needs to be greater latitude for admitting exculpatory evidence, otherwise the court will be, essentially violating the defendant’s due process rights,” said defense attorney Joel Wirtz.

They say he was not advised of his Miranda rights against self-incrimination before being questioned, and was denied his right to a lawyer. The prosecution agreed to take parts out of the police recording for trial, and will send a written response by Nov. 12.

In court documents, prosecutors say co-workers of Ryder, who was a loving husband and father, told detectives he would state verbally and by gestures that he was bisexual. The defense plans to call some of those co-workers to the stand during the trial.

“None of them indicated that the victim was violent, instead that he would become sexually aggressive or outspoken, obnoxious and so forth,” said District Attorney Patrick Flaherty. “There simply is no support in the law why that would be submissible in a murder case.”

The prosecution also asked that Ryder’s actions not be used against him during the trial.

The defense has until Nov. 25 to respond to whether they will allow that evidence to be taken out.

In another murder case, Forte on Monday set a July 8th, 2014 trial date for 30-year-old Joshua Jokinen, the Pendleton man accused of killing Cloverdale horse breeder Carolyn Burdick in August.

Jokinen was on supervision for an earlier criminal offense when police say he killed the 78-year-old woman by hitting her in the head with the back of a shovel.

Burdick’s body was found at her Cloverdale home by a friend.