A Billings couple were bound with wire and tape and tied together on a bed in their small apartment for three days before they were killed and their bodies burned, Yellowstone County Attorney Dennis Paxinos said Wednesday.

More details of the deaths of the South Side couple and their neighbor emerged on the day that the man accused of committing the murders two years ago made his first court appearance on the charges.

Despite evidence in the case that would support a death sentence, Paxinos said he would not seek that punishment.

“As probably the only attorney in the state of Montana who has successfully sought and secured a conviction in a death penalty case, I know firsthand the turmoil it took on the surviving family member in that case,” Paxinos said.

Richard Edward Covington, a 46-year-old Billings man already in jail for over a year awaiting trial for felony robbery, was arraigned Wednesday in District Court on three counts of deliberate homicide in the 2006 deaths of Norman Leighton, his companion Farrier “Patti” Hubbert and the couple’s neighbor, Gerald Morris.

Covington appeared before Judge Russell Fagg and a crowded courtroom of observers to enter not-guilty pleas to the murder charges and a dozen other felony counts, including six drug offenses, two counts of robbery, two counts of tampering with evidence and one count each of arson and theft.

With no argument from Covington’s two public defenders, Fagg granted a request from Deputy County Attorney Rod Souza for a $1 million bond. Fagg ordered the bond to be in addition to the $250,000 bond set in the pending robbery charge.

Montana’s chief public defender, Randi Hood, and the office’s regional chief defender, Kris Copenhaver-Landon, stood with Covington during the 10-minute court appearance. A woman cried in the gallery as the charges were read, and more than a dozen detectives and lawyers watched the proceeding with family members of the victims seated nearby.

Firefighters found the bodies of Leighton, 69, and Hubbert, 54, shortly after 6 a.m. Sept. 22, 2006. Fire crews were called to a small cluster of apartments at 221½ S. 28th St. for a 911 report of a fire in a roof vent above unit No. 3.

In charging documents filed late Tuesday, prosecutors describe the gruesome discovery of the bodies by a firefighter who went inside the apartment. Hubbert was found bound and gagged on the floor near the bed where Leighton was also found bound. The two were tied together, and Leighton’s head was wrapped in duct tape.

The victims were bound with tape, coat hanger wire and telephone cord, the affidavit states. Hubbert had a towel pushed into her mouth. They were beaten and cut, and their bodies burned by a fire set inside the apartment.

Morris, 43, was reported missing by family members on Sept. 19. His body was found Oct. 4 several miles south of Billings off Blue Creek Road by a state road worker. He had been shot in the neck and back.

A joint investigation into the three slayings by the Billings Police Department and Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office eventually resulted in the charges filed against Covington.

“This was a high priority, and an egregious act in our community,” Police Chief Rich St. John said after Covington appeared in court.

During a press conference to announce his decision not to seek the death penalty, Paxinos also explained some of the evidence gathered by investigators.

As there are no known direct witness to the killings, the case against Covington is built on circumstantial evidence, including DNA found in the apartment and fibers found on Morris’ pants.

Paxinos said a timeline of the crimes shows the robbery at Leighton and Hubbert’s apartment happened on Sept. 18, four days before the fire. That conclusion is based on evidence that matched a bullet fragment from Morris’ body and a .44 Magnum revolver owned by Leighton.

The robbery at the apartment had to occur before Morris was killed, which most likely occurred Sept. 19, Paxinos said.

A forensic pathologist found that Hubbert suffocated and died late Sept. 21, Paxinos said.

Leighton died of head trauma in the early-morning hours of Sept. 22, Paxinos said, and they both were killed before the fire was set.

Paxinos said evidence shows Leighton and Hubbert were alive in their apartment after the robbery for at least three days before they were killed.

“I’ve just taken 30 seconds to describe what took months to figure out,” Paxinos said.

It remains unknown why Morris was killed, the county attorney said. Morris may have discovered the robbery in progress, or the killer may have wanted to cast suspicion on the couple’s neighbor by having him disappear, Paxinos said.

Prosecutors can prove that Covington was inside the apartment through DNA found on a pillow, Paxinos said. A DNA analysis of dog hair found on the towel in Hubbert’s mouth matched DNA from Covington’s dog, according to the charging affidavit.

And fibers found on Morris’ pants match the material of a truck seat belonging to a man who said he loaned Covington his truck on Sept. 19. The man said Covington took the truck at about 7 a.m. and returned it about 1 p.m.

Paxinos, St. John and Undersheriff Jay Bell praised the work of detectives assigned to the case. The Police Department spent about $60,000 on DNA testing, St. John said, and both agencies devoted two detectives to the case full time.

Paxinos said he met with the victims’ families to explain his decision not to seek the death penalty. The decision was made after an analysis by a staff member of recent death penalty cases in Western states, Paxinos said. Over the last decade, executions carried out in states presided over by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals are rare unless the defendant is a “volunteer,” he said.

“In the 9th Circuit, which we are, it’s just not going to happen,” Paxinos said.

He also read a statement in the death penalty review that he shared with family members during a recent meeting. It states: “The families of murder victims are cruelly deluded into believing that justice will be delivered with finality during their lifetimes.”

“And that’s exactly right,” Paxinos said.

Contact Greg Tuttle at gtuttle@billingsgazette.com or 657-1320.