Lawyers in shipyard killing trial outline defense plan

Published 9:00 pm Monday, July 9, 2001

Associated Press

SEATTLE — Lawyers for a man charged with killing two men and wounding two others at a shipyard on Lake Union have ruled out using mental illness as a defense.

Instead, Anthony Savage and Eric Lindell have told a King County Superior Court judge they will argue that prosecutors cannot prove Kevin William Cruz, a former Northlake Shipyard employee, was the killer.

Cruz, 32, is charged with two counts each of aggravated first-degree murder in the death of Peter Giles, 27, a nephew of the shipyard’s two owners, and Russell Brisendine of Lynnwood, a shipyard electrician, and of attempted murder in the wounding of Jaromir Mach, 59, and Patrick Ming, on Nov. 3, 1999.

"It is by no means a slam-dunk case," Savage said. "What we’re saying is, he didn’t do it — and if you think he did, go ahead and prove it."

Under the defense strategy, revealed at a court hearing Friday, Cruz’s lawyers could still introduce evidence of what they have described as "extreme abuse" in childhood and "extreme mental disturbance" in a bid to spare his life if he is convicted of aggravated murder.

Prosecutors, who are seeking the death penalty, have said an unfired bullet found in Cruz’s bedroom in SeaTac bore the markings of the gun used in the killing, which was discovered in a soggy backpack near the shipyard two months after the shooting.

In addition, they say skin cells matching his DNA were found on the gun holder and claim he changed his appearance shortly after the shootings, which terrified many residents of the city’s Wallingford area.

According to court documents, Cruz was angry at his former bosses because he lost benefits for a work-related disability claim after an insurance carrier determined he was not disabled.

The trial is scheduled for October.

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