RICHLAND, Wash. – Robert Delao returned to the stand Thursday morning in the murder-for-hire trial.
Delao pleaded guilty and is now testifying in the Richland trial of the accused mastermind James Henrikson in a murder-for-hire plan.
Prosecutors said Delao planned the hits on Spokane businessman Doug Carlile and KC Clarke of North Dakota.
Authorities believe Carlile and Clarke were both murdered after Henrikson ordered and hired Timothy Suckow to do so.
On Thursday, defense attorney Todd Maybrown questioned Delao in court.
The defense began by showing a photo and video from December 20, 2013 when Delao was first interviewed by Spokane police.
In the video, Delao explained how the trucking business worked and told police he heard someone waited in Carlile’s house for him.
The defense said Delao promised to tell the truth during his interview with police, but they do not think that he was honest.
Delao continued to say he was driving a company truck through North Dakota when Carlile was murdered. He said his credit card activity should reflect that.
During his 2013 interview, Delao said “Henrikson is a pathological liar.” He also said Henrikson is a great salesman though, so it works in his favor.
Delao said Henrikson started having an affair with Tex Hall’s daughter, Peyton Martin, and that the two have a child together.
According to Delao, when Tex Hall found out, Henrikson and Hall had a bitter separation. Delao said he had to pick a side and decided to work for Hall.
“When you talk to him, you have to cipher the bullshit from the truth. He’s a slime bag straight up,” said Delao about Henrikson.
The video also showed Delao being asked about the disappearance of KC Clarke during the 2013 interview.
“You don’t just disappear. Does my gut tell me something happened? Yeah,” said Delao.
Delao told police he did not know he was being interviewed as a suspect in Carlile’s murder.
The officer said, “If you had to guess who did this to Doug, who would you say is behind it?”
“I don’t know who would benefit,” said Delao.
After playing the video, the defense then questioned Delao about the interview that was just shown in court. The defense said during the interview Delao told police he did not know who would have wanted to kill Doug Carlile.
The defense said Doug Carlile told Tex Hall to fire Delao. Delao said in court that he had never heard that before.
Delao’s polygraph with police was then played by the defense.
The police officer questioning Delao asked, “Were you involved in Doug’s death?” Delao said no.
Delao also told the officer that he did not have any involvement in planning Doug’s death.
When asked if he had ever tried to double cross law enforcement, Delao answered yes.
The polygraph revealed him telling police that he was nervous.
The defense said Delao changed his story in a later interview with investigators and threw Henrikson under the bus.
The defense then questioned Delao about Timothy Suckow. Delao said he met Suckow during the winter of 2007. The defense asked him if he knew Suckow had mental issues. Delao said he knew.
The defense finished questioning Delao around 11:00 a.m., but asked that the court hold him in case they need to call him back.
Following the defense, prosecuting attorney Aine Ahmed questioned Delao again.
Ahmed asked Delao about deleted text messages found on his phone.
In December 2013, Delao said he knew he was a suspect in a murder. He pleaded guilty to all charges against him.
Ahmed said the government did not dismiss any of the charges against him.
The defense said to Delao, “You cut a deal with the government.”
After Delao finished testifying, the prosecution called Steve Kelly to the stand.
Kelly is the owner of Trust Land, which is an oil field service company that does trucking.
Kelly explained laws in place required for working for the reservation. He said he did business with Henrikson’s trucking company so they could operate on the reservation. He said Sarah Creveling signed the contract.
Kelly used to be Tex Hall’s attorney for the tribe and said Henrikson was trying to steal his work.
The court broke for lunch at noon Thursday.