Man charged in hammer attack bound over to district court

Jul. 6—A man charged with attempted murder for allegedly attacking another man with a hammer was bound over to district court by Magistrate Judge Sunil Ramalingam.

Edward Hochrein Jr. had a preliminary hearing Wednesday at the Nez Perce County Courthouse, where Ramalingam found there was enough probable cause for felony charges of attempted murder and burglary. Nez Perce County Prosecutor Justin Coleman dismissed a felony intimidation of a witness charge.

Hochrein, 37, is charged with allegedly striking Ryan Williams, 39, at a homeless camp June 23 in the 600 block of the Levee Bypass near the railroad tracks. Both men are homeless and Williams was allegedly attacked by Hochrein with a hammer in a tent.

Williams is being treated at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and was listed in serious condition Wednesday afternoon, according to the hospital.

Three witnesses testified at the hearing before about 10 people in the courtroom. Two witnesses were detectives investigating the case and one was another homeless man, Walter Pate, who was sharing his tent with Williams the morning of the attack.

Pate appeared in person at the courthouse and walked with a cane to the witness stand and testified as Nez Perce County Chief Deputy Prosecutor April Smith asked questions. Pate said he has been living in the tent for about a month and lets people stay there. The night before the alleged attack was the first time Williams had stayed with Pate in his tent. Under cross examination from public defender Rick Cuddihy, Pate said no one else knew Williams was staying in his tent and there were only a few tents with some individuals nearby, none of which were occupied by Hochrein.

Pate testified that he first woke up when an officer did a walk-through and asked if he was OK. Williams was still sleeping. Then he went back to sleep and woke again when "there was a commotion in the tent," he said.

He turned around to see what was happening and testified that he saw Hochrein kneeling over Williams with one knee on either side of him. Williams was curled in a fetal position.

Pate said Hochrein said "that's what you get for raping my girl," and Williams was telling him "no" and asking him to stop. Pate told the court he didn't see any weapon at that time and didn't know what was going on.

Hochrein then reportedly asked Pate for a cigarette. Pate didn't have any but gave Hochrein his vape. Hochrein left the tent and walked up the hill and Pate called after him asking about his vape. Hochrein later pointed the hammer at him, the first time Pate saw it, and said "you're next." Pate testified he was confused by the statement because he didn't know what Hochrein meant.

Although he had a vape, he told Public Defender Rick Cuddihy that he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol that would affect his memory.

Pate then told the court that he saw Williams bleeding and he called out Pate's name.

"There was quite a bit of blood," Pate said.

Pate identified Hochrein in the courtroom and said he was able to identify him in the tent because of the tattoos on his face. He's known Hochrein for about a year when they both were living at the "old pea factory" near the encampment. He told the court he knew Hochrein's first name but not his last name.

Detectives Joe Stormes and Cody Bloomsburg also testified about their investigation into the case. Stormes interviewed witnesses, including Pate, at the scene and also saw the tent where the attack took place.

Stormes said there was blood outside the tent, including on a chair and on the ground as well as inside the tent on the walls, mattresses, pillows and on the floor. There was also an open toolbox.

Bloomsburg responded to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center to look at Williams' injuries. At the trauma room at the hospital Bloomsburg observed large amounts of blood on the pillows behind Williams' head and dried blood on his face, feet, arm, hand, neck and shins.

With the assistance of a nurse, Bloomsburg saw the wounds on the back of Williams' head and noticed at least three lacerations, including one that was crescent-shaped. The back of his skull was deformed. "It looked like his skull had been broken in," Bloomsburg said, because it "didn't match the natural curve."

Bloomsburg later went to the police department and measured a hammer that matched the diameter of the crescent-shaped wound on Williams. However, Cuddihy noted that hammers come in different sizes and weights and investigators don't know what type of hammer, if any, was involved in the attack.

"There's no way for you to know if this injury was caused by a hammer or not," Cuddihy said.

Bloomsburg testified that according to witnesses a hammer was used in the attack. The crescent-shape injury indicates the attack was done with a circular or crescent-shaped object.

"I cannot say what made those injuries," Bloomsburg said, but the wounds appeared to be "blunt-force trauma."

Bloomsburg also clarified with Cuddihy that witnesses stated Williams was lying on his side, not his back, when he was allegedly attacked by Hochrein.

Both Stormes and Bloomsburg interviewed Hochrein at the Nez Perce County Adult Detention Center. Stormes testified that Hochrein said he was following a trail of property items he believed to belong to his girlfriend and children. Stormes said that Hochrein admitted to going into the tent and said that Pate stabbed Williams and grabbed a hammer and allegedly struck him. Hochrein said he blocked Pate from hitting Williams and took the hammer and later threw it up the hill from the encampment.

Stormes testified that Hochrein allegedly said if he had done something he would have killed any witnesses and he had no problem with killing an old man, which Stormes believed to be a reference to Pate. Cuddihy asked Stormes for his interpretation of the statements Hochrein made about killing witnesses.

"I felt it was to show us why he wasn't the one who did it," Stormes said.

Cuddihy later clarified that it was Hochrein's "way of denying it. Since he didn't kill witnesses, he didn't do it."

Stormes agreed.

Cuddihy asked Stormes if he asked Hochrein if he hit Williams and Stormes said that the detectives accused Hochrein of attacking Williams multiple times, which Hochrein denied.

Stormes and Bloomsburg both stated that the hammer hasn't been found.

At the beginning of the hearing Cuddihy said Hochrein wasn't waiving any of his rights, so Ramalingam read out loud all of the criminal complaints against Hochrein. After witnesses testified, Ramalingam took a short recess to review the case. After the recess, Ramalingam found there was probable cause for the other two felony charges of attempted murder and burglary in relation to the alleged attack.

Hochrein will be arraigned to district court at 1:30 p.m. today by 2nd District Judge Michelle Evans.

The maximum penalty for attempted murder is 15 years in prison as well as a $50,000 fine. The maximum penalty for burglary is 10 years in prison and a $50,00 fine. Hochrein also faces two misdemeanor charges of malicious injury to property and unlawful entry for allegedly breaking into a home after the alleged attack.

Brewster may be contacted at [email protected] or at (208) 848-2297.