Everett murder trial sent to jury

Published 10:25 pm Monday, December 8, 2008

EVERETT — Someone killed Forrest Starrett in the parking lot outside a crack house in south Everett.

Bullets ripped through his leg and head. He died on the pavement outside his truck.

Prosecutors don’t believe it’s a mystery who killed the 48-year-old grandfather. They charged Steven Lee, 26, and Tsegazeab “Keylo” Zerahaimanot, 24, with first-degree murder with a firearm.

“This case is not a whodunit case,” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Lisa Paul said Monday during closing arguments in the murder trial.

Witnesses saw the two defendants kidnap Starrett at gunpoint, force him into his truck and then shoot him to death, she said. Investigators believe the men were paranoid that Starrett could be an undercover cop investigating their ties to cocaine trafficking.

The defendants’ attorneys painted a different picture of the night’s events. During three hours of closing arguments, they told jurors that Everett police botched the investigation and the prosecution has relied on a group of crack-addicted witnesses who cannot be trusted.

“Do not trust the message if you can’t first trust the messenger,” Lee’s attorney John Crowley said.

There is no evidence that his client shot Starrett, Zerahaimanot’s attorney Robert Perez told jurors. The police and prosecutors have been on the wrong track from the beginning, he said.

“Because the police work was so deficient … the real killers of Forrest Starrett are going to get away with murder,” Perez said.

The case went to the jury late Monday afternoon.

Lee and Zerahaimanot face decades in prison if convicted.

County marshals took increased security measures throughout the nearly three-week trial. Spectators, who pass through a metal detector at the courthouse entrance, have been scanned again for weapons outside the courtroom before being allowed inside.

Two Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives who track gangs in the county attended Monday’s hearing, keeping close watch on the crowd.

In court documents, prosecutors expressed concern that some spectators would attempt to intimidate some of the witnesses testifying against the defendants.

Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Michael Downes warned spectators that he wouldn’t tolerate any attempts to influence the jury. Downes earlier learned that people had worn T-shirts reading “Free Steven Lee” to the courthouse. The judge had banned anyone from wearing such T-shirts when the trial first began in mid-November.

Lee and Zerahaimanot both denied any involvement in the Aug. 21, 2007, slaying. Neither blamed the other for Starrett’s death, which allowed for a single trial.

Starrett slid into the drug world less than a year before his death.

The former Boeing employee had been a devoted husband, father and grandfather before he became addicted to crack cocaine, his family said.

Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.