Snohomish County judge keeps door open on Monroe man’s bid for 3rd trial

Published 1:48 pm Friday, May 8, 2026

EVERETT — A Monroe man’s bid for a third trial remains in limbo after one of the jurors who convicted him of murder last month was arrested for a violent attack just days later.

Kevin Rodriguez, 35, has been convicted twice for a 2019 stabbing that left one person dead and two others seriously hurt at a Monroe apartment complex, according to court documents that span seven years of legal proceedings.

Rodriguez’s first conviction on a charge of manslaughter was tossed by the state Court of Appeals in 2023 due to improper jury instruction. After a new trial, Rodriguez was found guilty of second-degree murder on April 10.

On Friday, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge granted more time for the defense to investigate whether one of the jurors was mentally competent during the trial and jury deliberation.

An attorney representing Rodriguez filed a motion for a new trial on April 20, in part, because a juror was accused of forcing his way into an Everett home and stabbing two women only three days after the conviction. The stabbing suspect, a 20-year-old man, said he was “sent by Jesus,” according to The Daily Herald’s previous reporting.

The man was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree assault and one count of first-degree burglary, court documents said.

The alleged crimes committed by the suspect, identified in court documents as “Juror 14,” amount to juror misconduct, according to arguments from Rodriguez’s attorneys.

“The proximity of Juror 14’s identical criminal conduct to the verdict is extraordinary and demands judicial scrutiny,” the defense said in its motion for a new trial. “A juror who committed the same crime as the one he was judging — within seventy-two hours of finding the defendant guilty — raises unavoidable questions about the state of his mental functioning during deliberations.”

The defense asked for a hearing to investigate Juror 14’s mental state during the trial and deliberation, suggesting he may have been in the midst of a psychiatric episode that compromised his judgement.

In court documents responding to the request for a new trial, prosecutors said there was no evidence showing misconduct during jury deliberation and any insight into Juror 14’s mindset days before the stabbing would be speculative.

“The case law in Washington is really pretty much nonexistent on the issue we have before us,” Judge Cindy Larsen told the court on Friday.

Larsen said she was on the fence about whether or not to grant a formal hearing to consider the juror’s mental state and if it impacted the decision made in Rodriguez’s trial.

“The court was never alerted during the trial or deliberations that there was anything amiss with Juror 14,” she said.

Ultimately, the judge moved to continue the issue, delaying sentencing and giving the defense three more weeks to come up with evidence that could sway her decision.

“I think perhaps this is worthy of a continuance just to allow the defense to make that preliminary showing,” Larsen said. “As of today, I don’t think the preliminary showing has been met based on the evidence I have seen, but I’ll allow the defense to file a more complete brief.”

The defense said they planned to interview other jurors from the trial and review Juror 14’s mental health record to see if evidence exists that the man was incompetent when deciding Rodriguez’s fate.

Rodriguez’s case

On Feb. 10, 2019, investigators allege Rodriguez broke into an apartment where he used to live in Monroe and stabbed 56-year-old Evodio Garcia Martinez to death while he slept on a couch in the living room, according to court documents.

Rodriguez then allegedly hid in a bedroom until the other residents came home and attacked them with two butcher knives, court documents said. One man was slashed across the face, another roommate suffered knife wounds to his shoulder and elbow before the men could disarm Rodriguez until police arrived.

In his initial 2021 trial, Rodriguez told the court he acted in self-defense, because Garcia Martinez pointed a gun at him. Police said a gun was never found at the crime scene or during the investigation.

Rodriguez testified that his memory of the night was fuzzy and he admitted to using methamphetamine before the attack, The Daily Herald reported.

A jury convicted Rodriguez of first-degree manslaughter and two counts of second-degree assault, acquitting him of murder charges. At the time, at least one juror expressed confusion over the potential charges, according to court documents.

In 2023, the court of appeals ordered a new trial, saying jurors could have convicted Rodriguez of second-degree manslaughter, but the presiding judge didn’t instruct them on that charge. Rodriguez’s assault charges were not overturned by the state appellate court.

When Rodriguez went back to trial earlier this year, a jury once again found him guilty, this time of second-degree murder, but less than two weeks later, the defense moved to have that verdict thrown out, too.

In addition to the claims of jury misconduct, the defense made multiple motions to delay Rodriguez’s conviction or order a new trial in court on Friday.

The defense argued evidence presented against Rodriguez was insufficient and that the state did not meet its burden of proof. In another argument, the defense contended that Rodriguez was denied his right to defend himself, because of testimony that wasn’t allowed during the trial, including efforts to challenge the credibility of evidence and witnesses presented by prosecutors, court documents said.

Rodriguez’s attorney also attempted to have his two convictions for second-degree assault from 2021 thrown out, claiming newly discovered evidence presented in the 2026 trial was not available when Rodriguez was first convicted.

Larsen denied each of these requests.

The defense and prosecution now have about a month to make their case on whether Juror 14’s action after the trial should warrant a hearing to investigate the man’s mental competency during the trial. Larsen is then expected to make her decision after reviewing arguments from both sides.

Ian Davis-Leonard: 425-339-3097; ian.davis-leonard@heraldnet.com