EVERETT — The murder trial for a Marysville man accused of killing a Seattle teenager is expected to begin next week.
Jury selection started Wednesday after the defense made motions to limit testimony from a from a State Patrol firearms expert and to keep out photographs of a reenactment detectives created using the defendant’s vehicle. A jury was impaneled by Thursday afternoon and lawyers are expected to give opening statements Monday.
Erick Walker is accused of killing Molly Conley, 15, in a drive-by shooting on a rural Lake Stevens road on June 1, 2013. The high school freshman, who was walking with a group of friends, was struck in the neck by a single bullet. She died at the scene.
Two of her friends reported seeing gunfire come from a passing vehicle.
Walker, 28, is charged with first-degree murder. The former Boeing worker also is charged with multiple assaults and drive-by shootings in connection with gunfire from Lake Stevens to Marysville. Prosecutors allege that Walker shot up at least five occupied houses after Molly was killed.
Walker reportedly has admitted to being in Lake Stevens around the time of the girl’s death. He has denied killing Molly or taking part in any shootings.
His attorney Mark Mestel, of Everett, has argued that there is nothing to tie Walker to the deadly gunfire. Detectives spent days searching the underbrush and road but never recovered the bullet that killed Molly.
Bullets found at the drive-by shooting scenes, however, matched two handguns seized from Walker’s home, according to court documents.
On Wednesday, Mestel said that the ballistics expert shouldn’t be allowed to testify that bullets he examined were fired from the defendant’s guns to the exclusion of all other guns. He argued that there is controversy regarding to what degree of certainty firearms experts can testify that a bullet can be matched to a specific gun.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne said he wanted to hear from the expert about how he reached his conclusions.
The judge also said he was inclined to allow prosecutors to show jurors photographs from a crime scene reenactment that included someone sitting in the defendant’s vehicle, pointing a gun out the passenger window. He agreed that jurors will be instructed that photographs are not to be considered a factual representation of what happened.
Walker’s trial is expected to last up to three weeks.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
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