Home invasion trial begins
Published 9:00 pm Monday, February 26, 2007
A young girl was watching “Survivor” on television when the doorbell rang Nov. 30. She figured her sister was at the door.
Instead, the 11-year-old encountered two masked men dressed all in black, one holding a pistol.
The man with the gun held it to her temple and asked, “Where’s the money? Who else is home?”
Deputy prosecutor Tobin Darrow on Monday recounted the events of the violent Nov. 30 home invasion in the Martha Lake neighborhood, north of Lynnwood.
A trial started Monday in Snohomish County Superior Court for Hasan Clay, 28, of Everett.
He is charged with two counts of first-degree assault, and one count each of second-degree assault and first-degree burglary. He has pleaded not guilty.
Police say they connected Clay to the robbery by tracing a cell phone found in the driveway to Clay’s mother.
The girl’s mother and father were both shot during the home invasion. Police believe the suspect was trying to steal from someone else, and got the wrong house.
The second man involved in the heist was never identified, Darrow said.
Clay’s attorney, Stephen Garvey of Everett, had no comment. He said he will give his opening statement after the state rests its case.
Phone records show a half-dozen calls were made on the cell phone to Clay’s wife the day of the home invasion. Two were made just minutes before, Darrow said.
This contradicts what Clay told police, that he’d lost the phone the day before the attack, Darrow said.
Darrow described what happened that night.
The girl’s father was sleeping when the doorbell rang, and he awoke to screams. He burst out of bedroom and almost tackled the man with the gun. The two tumbled over a coffee table, the gunman aimed the pistol at the father’s chest.
Darrow described for the jury how the father’s defensive move shoved the muzzle of the weapon downward, and he was shot in the leg.
Bullets were flying, and the mother later realized she’d been shot in her arm. The girl was bruised by the gun barrel.
The trial continues today.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
