Walla Walla murder suspect to undergo competency evaluation
By Dan Thesman on Friday, September 26th, 2025 in Columbia Basin News Columbia Basin Top Stories
WALLA WALLA – Eric Phillip Sarmiento, 38, of Ephrata will undergo an inpatient mental competency evaluation. His defense attorney, Ashely Kulberg, requested the evaluation Thursday morning during what was scheduled to be Sarmiento’s arraignment.
Sarmiento was arrested on Friday, Sept. 19 and charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery with a deadly weapon in connection with the death of Phillip Moore, 73, of Walla Walla, at the Whitman Court Apartments, 305 Ash Street.
Witnesses saw Sarmiento leave the building before officers arrived. He was later found nearby with blood on his hands and was taken for questioning. Security cameras showed him interacting peacefully with Moore outside before following him inside. Moore’s apartment was found ransacked, suggesting items were stolen.
On Monday, Sarmiento refused to appear remotely from jail for court. On Tuesday, a drag order was used to bring Sarmiento to court for which he was informed by Walla Walla County Superior Court Judge Patricia Fulton that felony charges had been formally filed against him just prior to his hearing.
Sarmiento kept his head down during the entirety of Wednesday’s hearing in which Judge Fulton granted Kulberg’s request for an inpatient mental competency evaluation and set a status hearing on that evaluation for Oct. 9.
