All Charges Dropped For 2 Men Accused in 3 Pinyon Pines Killings

Pictured above are Cristin Smith, left and Robert Pape, right.

Charges against two men accused in a 2006 triple murder in Pinyon Pines were dismissed Friday at the prosecution’s request.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Charles Stafford granted the motion filed by the District Attorney’s Office to drop the charges against Cristin Conrad Smith and Robert Lars Pape. Smith and Pape were expected to be released later today from the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside, where both have been held without bail since being arrested in March.

District Attorney Paul Zellerbach issued a statement calling the dismissals appropriate in light of issues that arose during grand jury proceedings against Pape, adding “it would not be appropriate to continue the criminal proceedings against defendant Smith.”

“The D.A.’s Office is committed to continuing its investigation into these murders and believes and expects that murder charges will be refiled in the near future,” the statement read.

Outside the courtroom, family members hugged.

Smith’s attorney, John Patrick Dolan, said “we are pleased, gratified and relieved that Sgt. Smith will be reunited with his family, and he eagerly awaits the opportunity to be introduced to his newborn daughter, Zoey.”

Smith is a decorated U.S. Army Ranger who has served several tours of duty in the Middle East.

Pape’s attorney, Richard Blumenfeld, said the D.A.’s office “botched this up in every stage of the proceedings, from the time of filing to the time it was dismissed ... What was done in this case was disgraceful.”

He said that although Pape’s family and friends were “ecstatic” about the dismissal, they didn’t want to diminish the magnitude of the loss for the victims’ families.

This morning’s hearing had been expected to focus on whether the judge should uphold his order for Zellerbach to testify in a hearing aimed at dismissing charges against Pape.

Zellerbach was subpoenaed last month by Blumenfeld to attend a hearing this coming Monday on a defense motion to have the charges against Pape dismissed.

On Sept. 15, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Charles Stafford ordered Zellerbach to be present at the hearing. The D.A.’s Office moved to vacate the order, and Pape’s attorney opposed it, setting up today’s hearing, which ended up assuming a far different character.

John Hall of the District Attorney’s Office had said Zellerbach would abide by the judge’s order. Zellerbach, who lost his reelection bid to prosecutor Mike Hestrin in June, is leaving office early next year.

Pape, 26, and Smith, 25, were arrested in March and charged with the killings of Vicki Friedli, 53, her boyfriend Jon Hayward, 55, and her 18-year- old daughter at their Alpine Drive home. The defendants had faced three counts of murder, with special circumstance allegations of committing multiple murders.

On the night of Sept. 17, 2006, firefighters responding to a blaze at the victims’ home found the young woman’s burned body in a wheelbarrow about 70 feet from the house.

After firefighters doused the blaze, they found the bodies of her mother and Hayward in the house. Both had been shot. The cause of Becky Friedli’s death could not be determined.

— City News Service.