EVERETT — Investigators believe the gun used to kill a Granite Falls woman was pressed against her skin when the pistol was fired.
There also is evidence that the 22-year-old mother was lying on her side when she was shot, according to court papers.
That evidence contradicts the statement the woman’s longtime boyfriend Modesto Myers-Mejia gave detectives, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Paul Stern wrote in charging papers.
Myers-Mejia told investigators that he got out of bed and picked the gun up off the mattress. He said the pistol accidentally went off while his girlfriend was getting dressed.
Joanna Marsh, 22, died from being shot in her stomach.
Stern on Friday charged the Granite Falls man with first-degree domestic violence manslaughter. Myers-Mejia pleaded not guilty to the charge in Snohomish County Superior Court on Tuesday.
Myers-Mejia remains jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail. His trial is scheduled for mid-June.
The shooting happened April 11 after a birthday party at the couple’s Granite Falls home. Myers-Mejia called 911, reporting that he’d accidentally shot his girlfriend and he needed help, Stern wrote.
The couple’s children, ages 1 and 4, were in the room at the time of the shooting. They were not injured.
Detectives found Marsh lying on the floor. There also was a handgun on the floor. Investigators recovered a spent bullet in the floor beneath the bed. Trajectory analysis indicates that the bullet was fired from a nearly vertical position, Stern wrote.
Investigators also found a contact wound on Marsh’s abdomen, indicating that the gun’s muzzle was pressed against her skin when it went off, according to court papers.
Myers-Mejia told investigators that he keeps a gun in the bedroom as protection. He told detectives that before the shooting he used the gun as part of the couple’s foreplay, Stern wrote.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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