A 32-year-old man accused of beating his wife to death at their Oak Harbor apartment last year has a new attorney.

The appointment of new representation likely means that the trial date for Phadell D. Saddler, currently set for June 24, will be delayed again.

Prosecutors charged Saddler in Island County Superior Court Oct. 10 with murder in the second degree with aggravating factors in the Oct. 7, 2024 death of Chanell Lynne Saddler, as well two counts of assault in the fourth degree for earlier alleged crimes of domestic violence against her.

On Oct. 11, attorney Matt Montoya, who holds the county’s public defense contract, filed a notice of appearance as Saddler’s attorney.

Saddler pleaded not guilty to all the charges on Oct. 21, 2024.

On May 13, Montoya filed a motion to withdraw. He wrote that there was a “complete breakdown of communication” between attorney and client, “as it is Mr. Saddler’s belief that current counsel has been ineffective in representation.”

“This belief has further deepened a rift between counsel and client, to the point that any other communication between Mr. Saddler and counsel will be hostile and unproductive,” the motion states.

During a hearing on May 14, Judge Christon Skinner accepted Montoya’s motion to withdraw. The next day, John Ewers of Everett’s Muzzone Law Firm filed a notice as Saddler’s new attorney.

Court documents suggested that Montoya may have been exploring an insanity or diminished capacity defense. He obtained court permission to spend $6,000 to have his client evaluated by Psychologist Dr. Wendi Wachsmuth, who has testified as an expert witness for both the prosecution and defense in prior cases.

At an earlier court hearing, a deputy prosecutor described the murder as being particularly brutal and “akin to torture.”

According to a detective’s report, a man from Tennessee contacted Oak Harbor police on the night of the murder to report that he heard through a third person that a man confessed to killing a woman and wanted to shoot himself. Officers went to the provided address, which was at the Lexy Manor Apartments on Northeast Seventh Avenue.

A teenage boy answered the door and closed it when he saw the police. The officers continued knocking and the child returned, saying, “Help, my mom won’t wake up.” The police entered the apartment and found Chanell Saddler’s body in the primary bedroom.

The teenager told officers that Saddler lived there but wasn’t home. He said Saddler and his mother fought often and that he often heard yelling and banging coming from the bedroom.

The boy said he heard banging that night and the sound of his mother “yelping” and a scream, the report states. A neighbor also reported hearing yelling and banging that night.

Hours later, at about 4:30 a.m., an officer arrested Saddler at gunpoint when he had returned to the apartment “to get something,” the police report indicates.

The police report states that officers were called to the apartment four times in the last year for reports of suspected domestic violence, but nobody was arrested.