PORT ANGELES – Clallam County’s prosecutor says he will appeal a judge’s decision dismissing charges in a four-decades old murder case.

Yesterday, prosecutor Mark Nichols said his office would appeal Superior Court Judge Brian Coughenour’s ruling the state denied Tommy Ross a right to a speedy trial. Ross was charged in Clallam County for the 1978 murder of 20-year-old Janet Bowcutt in Port Angeles.  But in the meantime, he was tried and convicted for another murder in Canada.

Nichols says investigators linked Ross to Bowcutt’s death soon after the murder. He said Ross went to Victoria, British Columbia and murdered Janice Forbes on Mother’s Day 1978. Similarities between the two deaths indicated the same suspect did both crimes. Ross fled Canada and was arrested in Los Angeles on warrants for both murders.

But courts records show a new Canadian prosecutor refused to honor a previous understanding with Clallam County that in releasing Ross’ arrest warrant, he would be returned to the U.S. following the Canadian trial regardless of the outcome. Ross was found guilty and served a 38-year sentence for the Canadian murder. He was arrested two years ago crossing into the US from Canada after his release from prison. Prosecutors say he waived his right to speedy trial numerous times since that arrest.

However, Judge Coughenour ruled this week, the 1979 decision to release Ross from his Clallam warrant so that Canada could act upon Ross’s waiver of extradition violated Ross’s constitutional right to a speedy trial.

It’s believed once he is out of custody, Ross will return to family in California.