7-6-2018
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — The man who prosecutors say shot Mount Vernon Police officer Michael McClaughry in 2016 has pleaded not guilty to new charges.
The Skagit Valley Herald reports Ernesto Lee Rivas now faces nine additional assault and weapons charges on top of two counts of first degree attempted murder.
Rivas is accused of shooting the officer in the head and another man in the neck in December 2016.
The judge presiding over the case also ruled on Tuesday that statements Rivas made over the phone to officers while he was barricaded in a home following the shootings can be used at trial.
The judge said the statements were made before officers read Rivas his Miranda Rights but they can be used as evidence because he wasn’t in police custody at the time.