Dozens dismissed as jury is pared in Richard Rotter trial

EVERETT — Can you handle graphic images?

Do you have close relationships with police officers?

Is the presumption of innocence a good rule?

Those were a few of the questions asked Friday of dozens of potential jurors in the aggravated murder trial of Richard Rotter in the killing of Everett police officer Dan Rocha, 41.

By day’s end, there was still more work to be done to assemble a panel of 12 Snohomish County residents and three alternates. Jury selection was set to continue Monday.

There was a chance a jury panel could’ve been finalized Friday. But the process was derailed Friday afternoon after a man told some potential jurors to “give him the chair” and “hang him high” in the courthouse hallway. Over half a dozen reported hearing the remark. All noted it wouldn’t affect their judgment.

State law says “a person is guilty of jury tampering if with intent to influence a juror’s vote, opinion, decision, or other official action in a case, he or she attempts to communicate directly or indirectly with a juror other than as part of the proceedings in the trial of the case.” Jury tampering is a gross misdemeanor.

If convicted as charged, Rotter faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. There is no death penalty in Washington.

Before Friday, Superior Court Judge Bruce Weiss and the attorneys questioned jurors individually about their answers to a questionnaire. They wanted to know how much jurors knew about the case and whether they had close relationships with police.

Many jurors remembered little about the case.

Some recalled reading about a shooting in a parking lot.

Some recalled the officer had been run over.

Some recalled hearing there was a police chase.

But beyond the events of March 25, 2022, most knew little about the case. Knowing just that Rocha had been killed was not enough to excuse potential jurors.

The defense appeared mostly worried about what prospective jurors might have known about the court case. They feared if panelists knew Rotter, 51, had indicated plans to plead guilty before reversing that decision, that could make it hard for them to be unbiased. Last month, Weiss denied a defense request to get the case transferred out of Snohomish County due to the heavy press coverage of the case here.

Judge Weiss dismissed some jurors for being too close to the case. A former sheriff’s deputy knew some of the witnesses and one of the prosecutors from his job. An Everett resident had donated to fundraisers for Rocha’s family after the slaying.

On Friday, prosecutors and Rotter’s public defenders questioned the dozens of remaining potential panelists after the days of dismissals.

Deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson asked for their first thoughts when they heard about the case they could soon be deliberating about. They said they were shocked or scared.

“It’s a huge responsibility,” one told Matheson.

The deputy prosecutor said “the gravity of the charges weighs on all of us.”

“I don’t think there’s anyone in this courtroom that wants to be here,” Matheson told the dozens of jurors packing the courtroom Friday. “So the question isn’t whether it’s going to be uncomfortable, or whether it’s something we want to do, it’s, ‘Will that kind of stress make you unable to do your job as a juror?’”

Some worried the case, especially the video and photos they’ll see, could overwhelm or traumatize them. Several others called themselves true crime buffs, so they have more experience seeing violent acts.

The jury selection sets the stage for what will be one of the most high-profile trials in Snohomish County in years. The first witnesses could be called Monday afternoon.

The defense has noted it won’t argue Rotter isn’t the man who killed Rocha. But they’ll try to convince jurors post-traumatic stress disorder from past arrests and drug use at the time of his confrontation with Rocha means his alleged actions couldn’t have been premeditated.

Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.