[October 22, 2019]

Markowitz Herbold PC Files Wrongful Death Suit After Prosecuting Attorney's Office Denies Request to Retest Evidence in 30-Year-Old Homicide

The Estate of Eftekhar "Effie" Entezari-Afshar, represented by Markowitz Herbold PC, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against several unnamed defendants in the Superior Court of the State of Washington for Clark County. This filing comes on the heels of the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney's Office intervening in the release of key evidence by the Clark County Sheriff's Office for retesting.

The facts of the original case are that Effie was murdered on May 1, 1989, in the parking lot of her Vancouver apartment complex. Her husband, Mike Entezari, was arrested for the crime based largely on the fact that the parties were in the process of a divorce. Within a year, Mike was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The case against him was based primarily on circumstantial evidence, as well as faulty ballistics and inaccurate testimony from experts presented by the prosecution. Mike maintained his innocence up until his death in 2019.

New Evidence Testing Will Change Case

According to the complaint, despite new evidence howing that Mike was not Effie's killer, the PA's office prevented the sheriff's office from releasing key evidence related to Effie's murder to appropriate, agreed-upon labs for retesting. The complaint argues that that evidence, and the new scientific technology that can be employed to test it, will exonerate Mike - and will most likely reveal who killed Effie and who aided and abetted that killer.

"Given new developments, it simply makes no sense that the PA's office would not allow retesting of evidence and work to convict those who are responsible for Effie's murder," said Renee Rothauge, attorney for the Estate of Eftekhar "Effie" Entezari-Afshar. "The purpose of this wrongful death complaint is to ensure that the PA's office releases evidence for testing that will most likely reveal who murdered Effie, and to hold her killers responsible."

New Witness Testimony Provides Reasonable Doubt

The complaint additionally asserts that in September 2018, a witness was discovered who lived at Effie's apartment at the time of the murder, and whose testimony would have created reasonable doubt regarding the timeline of Effie's killing as presented by the PA. This witness's testimony, which changes the timeline of the murder, would have shown that Mike could not have shot Effie. The witness states that the police were made aware of what she saw, but her statements were never followed up on. Furthermore, a 911 tape, which could have helped corroborate the witness's testimony, mysteriously disappeared before the original trial.

The Estate of Eftekhar "Effie" Entezari-Afshar is represented by Markowitz Herbold PC partner Renee Rothauge.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191022006045/en/

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