KENNEWICK — A member of a well-established Tri-Cities family goes on trial this week for the 2020 death of a Richland man following a fight over barking dogs at a local motel.
Prosecutors allege that Earnace Beasley Jr., 67, forced his way into the victim’s motel room, climbed on top of the man on the bed and hit him several times.
Beasley — who also was a resident at the Economy Inn at the time — then returned to his own room, according to court documents.
He later told Richland police investigators that he fought with William L. Bepler after the victim hit him on the face with a spatula.
Beasley’s shirt was ripped and he was missing a shoe, though he “did not have any noticeable cuts on his body” shortly after the fight, police noted in documents.
Bepler, 38, was taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center for emergency surgery for a stab wounds. He died a short time later.
Beasley has been in the Benton County jail on $300,000 bail since the May 9, 2020, incident.
Defense attorneys on Monday said in court their client denies stabbing Bepler, but acknowledged the two were in “a physical altercation.”
They allege someone else, possibly Bepler’s significant other, stabbed the victim at some point before police were called.
Beasley is charged in Benton County Superior Court with first-degree murder during a burglary.
Alternatively, jurors will be able to consider a reduced charge of second-degree murder committed during a second-degree assault.
Both counts include the allegation that Beasley was armed with a deadly weapon — a knife — during the crime. The enhancement, if found guilty by jurors, would lead to additional time in prison for Beasley.
On Monday, 56 prospective jurors responded to the Kennewick courthouse on a summons. Three were excused automatically based on their responses to COVID-19 questions.
Judge Sam Swanberg said in addition to asking jurors whether they have knowledge of the case through the news media, he also will inquire if there are any concerns of bias over race.
The issue was raised by attorneys given the current racial climate across the country; the defendant, Beasley, is Black.
The trial is expected to take up to two weeks.
Dogs at center of argument
Beasley’s family has been in the Tri-Cities since 1944 when his father, Earnace Beasley Sr., went to work at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
His brother, Vince Beasley, served five years as the Kennewick fire chief and 37 years total with the city department. He also was the 2017 recipient of Columbia Basin College’s Martin Luther King Jr. Spirit Award.
Another brother, Aaron Beasley, was a longtime Pasco firefighter who served on the Pasco School Board and ran an unsuccessful campaign for Pasco City Council in 2013.
Earnace Beasley Jr. was in his motel room at the Economy Inn on George Washington Way about 8:30 p.m. on a Saturday when Bepler’s girlfriend yelled at Beasley’s chihuahua-type dogs to stop barking.
Melissa Miller had been on the motel’s balcony talking with a friend. Beasley, whose door was open, reportedly yelled back at her.
Bepler allegedly heard the commotion and came out of his own room to yell at Beasley. He returned to his room, grabbed a spatula and came back to either hit or punch Beasley in the face, court documents said.
Miller claims Beasley then went to his room’s closet and removed a pocket knife from a jacket, then pushed his way into Bepler’s room.
She told police she could not pull Beasley away when he was attacking Bepler, documents said.
Once Beasley was back in his room, Miller said she found Bepler covered in blood. He told her to call police before he went downstairs to another room.
Officers said they arrived about 9 p.m. to find several stab wounds on Bepler’s face. He died at the hospital.
Beasley later told detectives he had been yelling with Miller about his dogs when Bepler hit him and that “pissed” him off, court documents said.
He told police that at some time during the fight with Bepler, they fell to the ground and that Bepler gave up.
Beasley said he did not have a knife or any weapon. He also said he “blacked out,” documents said.
Jury selection will continue Tuesday.
