The trial for Kelly David Hribar, who is accused of fatally shooting 40-year-old Leonard Kowalsky in the Pe Ell area in August, began, oddly enough, with both parties agreeing that Hribar is guilty of murder.
“The critical issue in this case, and I think it’s the only one … is the word ‘premeditation,’” defense attorney Don Blair said of Hribar’s case during his opening statement in Lewis County Superior Court on Tuesday.
Hribar, 46, of Pe Ell, faces one count each of first-degree murder and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm for allegedly firing three shotgun rounds toward Kowalsky from the shoulder of state Route 6 while Kowalsky was driving his 1994 Chevrolet Blazer near milepost 30 between 6:53 p.m. and 7:04 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 16.
One of those shotgun rounds struck the windshield, one struck Kowalsky’s left forearm and one struck Kowalsky’s left buttock, according to Deputy Prosecutor Scott Jackson.
Kowalsky’s left forearm was “decimated by the shotgun” and was “basically just hanging on by a piece of flesh,” according to witness reports quoted by Jackson. The shot to Kowalsky’s left buttock broke his pelvis, went through two organs and became lodged in his abdomen.
“He basically bled to death in his own internal cavity. They couldn’t stop the bleeding,” Jackson said during his opening statement on Monday.
Emergency services transported Kowalsky from the site of the shooting to Pe Ell School, and he was airlifted from there to Tacoma General Hospital, where he died shortly after.
“I don’t dispute that those three shots, or at least two of them, caused the death of Mr. Kowalsky,” Blair said to the jury on Tuesday.
Video surveillance from a Pe Ell gas station near the site of the shooting, testimony from roughly 30 witnesses, physical evidence closely examined by Washington State Patrol detectives, a recorded statement from Kowalsky right after the shooting, and a recorded confession from Hribar himself confirm that Hribar shot Kowalsky on Aug. 16, Jackson and Blair agreed in their opening statements this week.
The issue up for debate during trial is whether Hribar is guilty of first-degree murder, which requires premeditation, or second-degree murder, which does not.
Both charges are class A felonies punishable by up to life in prison, but while Washington state law allows a judge to set a lower sentence for a second-degree murder conviction, life in prison is the mandatory sentence for a first-degree murder conviction.
Jackson claims the evidence shows Hribar planned to murder Kowalsky on Aug. 16, which would make Hribar guilty of first-degree murder.
Specifically, Jackson cited witness testimony of ongoing “beef” between Hribar and Kowalsky, with Hribar believing Kowalsky and another subject burned down Hribar’s trailer several months ago and Hribar’s belief that Kowalsky tampered with the radiator on his vehicle the day of the murder.
Hribar and Kowalsky both visited the same gas station shortly before the shooting. Witnesses also at the station reportedly heard Hribar say he planned to confront Kowalsky, and surveillance footage shows Hribar drive away from the gas station — shortly after Kowalsky arrived — toward Kowalsky’s residence instead of toward his own home. Physical evidence from the scene and witness testimony show Kowalsky backed his pickup into the brush in an unofficial parking area on state Route 6 near the intersection with Katula Street, on which Hribar lived. Kowalsky reportedly drove past Hribar’s car west on state Route 6, made a U-turn and had started driving east back toward Pe Ell when Hribar shot him.
Jackson interpreted that sequence of events on Aug. 16 as Hribar “lying in wait” for Kowalsky, while Blair argued Hribar was parked too far from Kowalsky’s home for Hribar to have chosen it with the intent to wait for Kowalsky so he could shoot him.
Hribar has claimed Kowalsky saw him waiting, “made a U-turn and then came back by him … yelling in an agitated manner at him,” which Hribar said prompted him to exit his vehicle with his shotgun, according to court documents.
Kowalsky then began to “speed away,” according to Hribar, who advised law enforcement “he believed Kowalsky was returning to his residence to grab a gun,” according to court documents.
Blair ended his opening statement Tuesday by telling the jury he believes, at the end of Hribar’s trial, the evidence will have proven Hribar is guilty of second-degree murder rather than first-degree murder.
While the firearm used in the murder was never found, both parties agreed this week that the evidence, which includes shotgun shell casings, a gun bag with Hribar’s name on it and a photo of the shotgun on Hribar’s phone, proves Hribar is guilty of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
The verdict on both charges will be for the jury to decide.
The trial is expected to last approximately 10 days. Lewis County Superior Court Judge Joely Yeager is presiding.
Prior to Kowalsky’s death, he was the victim of an attack on Nov. 18, 2009. Kowalsky, at the age of 26, survived an ambush attack that left him with a crossbow bolt wound to the neck and several stab wounds to his abdomen, face, hands and chest.
The attacker in that case was convicted of first-degree assault and sentenced to 13 years in prison, according to previous Chronicle reporting.
At the time, Kowalsky told The Chronicle, “I would have rather gone fisticuffs than the way it happened … I was lucky it didn’t kill me.”
Pe Ell woman convicted for clearing evidence out of Hribar’s pickup
Four days after Hribar was charged for Kowalsky’s murder in August, Stacy Marrie Page, 40, of Pe Ell, was arrested for clearing evidence out of Hribar’s vehicle on Aug. 16 before troopers with the Washington State Patrol searched it.
Page pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree rendering criminal assistance on Oct. 11 and was sentenced that same day to 13 months in prison.
“I did hide property at the direction of Mr. Hribar, specifically license plates and a gun, after he (Hribar) committed a felony,” Page wrote in her guilty plea.
After her arrest, Page reportedly showed detectives where she hid the license plates to Hribar’s pickup truck in the woods near his residence. The gun was never recovered.
Page is being held at the Lewis County Jail until she testifies in Hribar’s trial, after which she’ll be transferred to another facility to serve the rest of her jail sentence.
