Fourth delay for Giles murder trial

EVERETT — A repeat sex offender charged with murdering two women in 1995 now won’t face trial before next year.

It is the fourth time that the trial date has been rescheduled for Danny Ross Giles since he was charged in 2012 with the pair of Snohomish County “cold case” killings.

The move Thursday reflects the complexity of the case, which relies on genetic evidence and still-unfolding detective work into crimes that occurred 18 years ago, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Millie Judge was told.

Giles’ attorney, seasoned public defender Neal Friedman, said that more time is needed to prepare.

The case files include more than 11,500 pages of police reports and other records, deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson said. “I’ve been doing this more than 20 years and this is the most involved case I’ve worked on,” Matheson said.

Giles, 45, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Snohomish County prosecutors say DNA test results and other evidence connect him to the July 1995 stabbing death of Patti Berry and the May 1995 disappearance of Tracey Brazzel. Giles has pleaded not guilty.

He’s been in the Snohomish County Jail, held on $4 million bail. Previously, he was at the the state’s Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island after King County prosecutors petitioned to have him declared a sexually violent predator.

Giles’ criminal record includes the 1987 rape of a woman attacked while she was in a tanning bed, plus peeping and other crimes against women and girls, starting in his teens. He became a suspect in the 1995 killings when tests determined his DNA allegedly was mixed with Berry’s on the steering wheel of the car she was driving the night of her killing. The suspicions became public in May 2011 when search warrants were filed to gather additional genetic evidence.

By then, the state’s Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board already had decided public safety was best served by ordering Giles to serve every day of a maximum six-year prison sentence for exposing himself to two college-aged women near the University of Washington in 2005. He went straight from serving that sentence to detention at McNeil Island on the sex predator case. The civil action was dismissed after the Snohomish County murder charges were filed.

That means Giles has been locked up since July 2011 awaiting resolution of the cases against him.

In court Thursday, the judge questioned him to make certain that Giles was once again waiving his right to a speedy trial.

“My speedy trial has already been exceeded,” Giles said. He made clear, though, that he was signing paperwork in support of the continuance.

The judge scheduled Giles’ trial for Dec. 27, but at the lawyers’ request set a hearing date for a few weeks earlier. Friedman said he hopes by then to have a better idea of when the case actually will be ready to take before a jury.

The December date is unlikely, the judge was told.

Brazzel’s body has never been found, meaning that to convict Giles, a jury must first be convinced her absence of nearly two decades is evidence of death. She was 22 when she disappeared. The last sighting was at Kodiak Ron’s, a pub which was then located at the intersection of Highway 99 and Airport Road. Berry, 26, was spotted at a convenience store in the same block the night she was killed, a few months later.

Giles was dodging arrest warrants for a theft in King County in 1995, and wasn’t a suspect in either case. Detectives say they’ve since found witnesses who say he frequented the pub and worked in the area.

Investigators began focusing on him after genetic material from the scene of Berry’s killing was matched to a DNA sample he had provided when sent to prison in 2005. The statistical probability of a random match was calculated at 1 in 580 million, according to court papers.

Tests in 2010 of blood droplets found on the outside of Brazzel’s car also were linked to Giles, court papers show. In those tests, the statistical probability of a random DNA match was calculated at 1 in 56 quadrillion.

Scott North: 425-339-3431; north@heraldnet.com

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Police: Teen in stolen car flees cops, causes crash in Lynnwood

The crash blocked traffic for over an hour at 176th Street SW. The boy, 16, was arrested on felony warrants.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.