The man accused of sexually assaulting and killing 29-year-old Devan Schmidt in a 2015 attack inside the Madison Valley home where she lived has been found not guilty of murder and rape in the case.

Thursday afternoon inside the King County Courthouse, Superior Court Judge Johanna Bender said there was reasonable doubt Eric Sims, now 48, murdered and raped the woman after a night of partying and heavy drug use but that prosecutors had successfully proven his guilt on a lesser assault charge.

Schmidt, Bender said, suffered clear bodily harm in the moments before she died with bruising and abrasions to her body, and blunt force trauma to her face.

But the judge said evidence of the victim’s mental health history and drug seeking behavior before her death left reasonable doubt that Schmidt’s lethal overdose was caused by Sims. The judge said the victim had ingested so much cocaine the night she died, that the state crime lab’s equipment could not provide accurate measurement during the investigation.

The legal proceedings in the case were delayed by COVID-19 restrictions and the decision by Sims to waive his right to a jury and put his trial in the hands of the judge.

Bender also criticized Seattle Police detectives who the court found failed to get warrants to collect evidence in other rooms of the house Schmidt shared with roommates, failed to property document drug-related evidence collected from the victim’s boyfriend’s truck, and failed to gather key medical records related to Schmidt’s mental health before they were no longer available.

In her ruling, Bender said she sympathized with “how desperately families want to understand” a loved one’s death but that sorting out every detail of a case is “not the role of the court,” saying the evidence presented in trial showed Schmidt died of intentionally ingesting large amounts of drugs — not homicidal violence.

CHS reported here on the start of the trial in September some six years after police and prosecutors said the 29-year-old Madison Valley woman had been raped and murdered in her home.

On the morning of May 2nd, 2015, 29-year-old Devan Schmidt was found unconscious by a housemate in the Madison Valley home they shared with roommates. The man called 911 and was guided through CPR. Seattle Fire medics rushed to the house near E Denny Way and 29th Ave E, but pronounced Schmidt dead at the scene.

In addition to a massively lethal level of cocaine, plus non-lethal amounts of sleeping pills and prescription drugs found in her stomach, the medical examiner also found suspicious injuries to her face that indicated she had been struck, and hemorrhages to her throat where she had been choked. The medical examiner said the circumstances around her death were “concerning for homicidal violence,” and asphyxia “could not be ruled out” but authorities were ultimately unable to determine a cause and manner of death. Schmidt’s family said the drugs found in her system complicated the investigation.

It took five years, a report by an independent investigator, and attention from the true crime series “Breaking Homicide” for Seattle Police to make an arrest in the case.

Last summer, Sims was charged with second degree murder and pleaded not guilty. He was also later charged with second degree rape.

Armed with DNA evidence and powered by attention from the TV show that featured Schmidt’s death with cooperation of the victim’s family and local investigators including the SPD Detective who had worked on the case, prosecutors alleged Sims returned to Schmidt’s Madison Valley home after a night of partying.

When Schmidt was found dead that morning, injuries to her body indicated someone had been on top of her while she was face down, police say. Investigators said Sims’ DNA was located on Schmidt’s front neck, right wrist, and right-hand fingernail clippings and the examiner reported indications of “the presence of sperm without semen, from a male who has had a vasectomy.” Sims’ wife told investigators that he has had a vasectomy, according to prosecutors.

In court documents, police describe a group partying with wine and cocaine until around dawn when Schmidt’s two friends and Sims left in separate vehicles. Later, Sims texted Schmidt a reported sexual overture — “I’m looking for some sauce.” Not long after, police say Schmidt contacted her friends and said Sims had returned. “Your boy is here what’s the best way to get rid of him?” — Schmidt told her friends she didn’t need help and could handle it. It was the last they heard from her.

Sims has remained behind bars in King County Jail since his May 2020 arrest. His previous criminal record includes drug convictions in the 1990s and another in 2003.

Judge Bender said sentencing on the second degree assault charge will likely take place in November. Prosecutors said they expect the sentence could exceed the amount of time Sims has already spent incarcerated. A plea from Poulsbo defense attorney Thomas Olmstead to release the defendant from jail pending sentencing was denied.

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