Man convicted in 2017 death faces 3rd strike after partial confinement escape, robbery

A murdered man’s loved ones predicted his killer was facing a hard life if he didn’t change his ways.

Now six years later, Stephen Morfin, 34, is facing a possible life sentence after being accused of escaping partial confinement and robbing a man in an ambush at a Richland home.

Morfin could be sentenced as a “persistent offender” if he is convicted of the first-degree robbery charge he is currently facing, Benton County Deputy Prosecutor Julie Long said. He is being held in lieu of $1 million in the Benton County jail.

The persistent offender law, more commonly known as the “three strikes” law, says anyone convicted of three violent crimes will be sent to prison for life.

People sentenced under a third strike are relatively rare in Washington state. Only a couple hundred prisoners statewide are serving that sentence.

Morfin was convicted of second-degree assault in 2016 after he stabbed a man outside of Joker’s Casino in Richland in October 2015. He was sentenced to two years.

In September 2017, he pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter after shooting Martin Ibanez several times in the driveway of 1507 W. Seventh Place. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Now he’s being held in the Benton County jail in lieu of $1 million bail.

Bail was set at $200,000 for the other man accused in the robbery, Jose A. Bonilla, 26. The woman who allegedly helped facilitate the robbery, Jennifer McCool, 49, is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Richland Robbery

Police were called to a Holly Street home on Feb. 21 after McCool, the man’s roommate, allegedly lured him out of bed by saying the power was out and the breaker box needed to be reset.

After finding some of the breakers turned off, he went back to tell his roommate, and instead found Bonilla, Morfin and a woman, court documents said.

When he walked in, the two men stood up and began punching him in the face. They demanded money, that he believed was related to property taxes owed on the residence. He tried telling the men that he didn’t owe any money, but they continued attacking him.

As they were attacking him, Morfin allegedly pulled out a handgun, and pointed it at the man. Then pistol-whipped the man “a number of times.”

The man tried to escape the attack, but Morfin and Bonilla followed him and continued to hit him. McCool allegedly also slapped him.

They allegedly rotated people watching him as they loaded his tools into his truck. Bonilla held him at gun point at one point and they also all whipped him with dog leashes. Bonilla also allegedly threatened him with a butane torch and a butter knife while Morfin pointed the gun at him.

They threatened to burn him if he didn’t tell them where the money was.

They also forced him to unlock his phone, which he did. They allegedly used it to send $200 to McCool using Venmo.

After an hour and a half, the four people left. McCool allegedly drove his truck away, which has not been found.

Manslaughter

Morfin pleaded guilty in 2019 after killing a man over a drug debt, according to court records.

Ibanez owed about $3,000 to his drug supplier and Morfin was enlisted to collect the money. He was taken to 1507 W. Seventh Place on Sept. 11, 2017.

While Morfin didn’t intent to kill Ibanez, after a brief argument in the driveway, he shot the man several times then took off.

Ibanez was pronounced dead at Trios Southridge Hospital in Kennewick.

At Morfin’s sentencing, Ibanez’s loved ones said they would forgive him, but it didn’t seem like he would change based on his history.

The deal to decrease the charge came after a trial came to screeching halt in 2018, a year after charges had been filed, when a witness said he met Morfin after he left jail or prison.

The judge had previously ruled Morfin’s prior convictions couldn’t be used in the trial. So the judge granted a mistrial.

He had been released to partial confinement in December, but escaped, according to the Washington Department of Corrections. He was arrested in March, and will remain incarcerated until Oct. 31 on the manslaughter charges.

Assault

Two years before the shooting, Morfin stabbed a man outside of Joker’s Casino in Richland.

An argument started at the Richland business on Oct. 9, 2015 and turned into a fight after the bar closed. The victim and his girlfriend became separated.

When they met again, the man had been stabbed twice. He was treated at Kadlec Regional Medical Center.

Security officers saw the fight and as they broke it up, Morfin threatened one of them with a knife. He left the scene with another man.