SEATTLE — Court records show Richard Sitzlack, 53, was arrested in November 2023 for the murder of his roommate.
According to court records, Sitzlack’s roommate kicked him out and as he was trying to leave, the roommate swung at him multiple times with a machete, then Sitzlack “grabbed a knife from his pocket and slashed [the victim] with this knife.”
Though investigators noted some inconsistencies in Sitzlack’s version of events, prosecutors and investigators said there was not enough evidence at the time to definitively disprove his claims of self-defense.
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“You’ve got to have the evidence to even bring it to court, both police and prosecutors realized we didn’t have that evidence,” said King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Casey McNerthney. “We took those initial inconsistencies and did four search warrants, and what that resulted with was more information that backed his claim of self defense.”
McNerthney said search warrants on cell phone records and medical records in the November 2023 case did not back a murder charge at the time, but Sitzlack could still be charged if more evidence comes to light.
McNerthney also noted that at Sitzlack’s first appearance, prosecutors argued for probable cause for homicide, which the court ultimately found. He also said that’s a lower standard of proof than what’s legally required for filing charges.
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“Because investigators didn’t send it to prosecutors for a rush file charging decision, Sitzlack was released after 72 hours in line with court rules,” McNerthney wrote.
McNerthney preemptively answered the question of why the case wasn’t referred or why Sitzlack wasn’t arrested later, to which he responded, “That’s a question for the homicide investigator, but it’s likely because of the self-defense claim.”
Sitzlack claimed that while he was attempting to leave the unit, his then-roommate came up behind him with what he referred to as a machete. According to the police report, “Sitzlack alleged that (the roommate) grabbed him by the back of the neck and shoved him to his knees near the apartment’s exterior door neat the stairway.”
“Sitzlack – who called police from the nearby park and waited for them to arrive before sharing his account – said he grabbed a knife from his pocket and slashed the roommate with the knife,” wrote McNerthney. “The roommate swore in response when he was hit and backed away. Sitzlack told police he ran from the apartment and called 911 from nearby Cowan Park (about a half mile away).”
McNerthney said that in the initial police report, police noted the inconsistencies in Sitzlack’s recollection of the incident. The report also noted that the victim was “cool to the touch,” which they thought was inconsistent with Sitzlack’s claim that he immediately called 911.
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The many noted inconsistencies are what ultimately led prosecutors to ask for probable cause at his first appearance hearing, according to McNerthney.
“At the time the initial report was written, it may not have been clear that the roommate’s wounds could have been inflicted in line with a self-defense claim by Sitzlack, and that’s not noted in the initial report,” wrote McNerthney.
Later investigation showed that Sitzlack could have been attacked where he said the attack occurred in the apartment. The aforementioned inconsistencies couldn’t overcome the self-defense claim under Washington state law, according to officials. There was nothing so outrageous and inconsistent to the point that Sitzlack’s self-defense claim could be disproven, said McNerthney.
“If there was evidence to disprove his self-defense claim or to clearly show a murder case beyond a reasonable doubt, prosecutors would have filed the case,” McNerthney wrote in conclusion.
