One of two teens accused of killing a classmate a year ago near Marysville is scheduled to go on trial Monday, but the proceedings may stop short of jury selection.
A lawyer for Joshua David Goldman, 19, of Seattle, said it’s likely his client will plead guilty, possibly on Monday.
“It appears we have reached a decision that’s agreeable to all parties,” Everett attorney Max Harrison said Friday.
Ed Stemler, the Snohomish County deputy prosecutor handling the case, said he’s ready for trial and doesn’t know what will happen on Monday.
Goldman and Jenson Hugh Hankins, 17, are accused of first-degree murder for allegedly luring Roosevelt High School classmate and fellow football player John Jasmer, 16, to an isolated area on the Tulalip Indian Reservation.
The two allegedly dug a grave, led Jasmer to it, then stabbed and attacked him with a hammer, prosecutors said.
According to police statements, the two killed their teammate because Jasmer was believed to have sexually assaulted Hankins’ girlfriend.
Goldman, the son of a Marysville police officer, eventually led Seattle and Snohomish County detectives to the grave. Seattle police were investigating a missing person report on Jasmer in August 2003 when they secured incriminating statements from both of the suspects.
Rumors about the murder had circulated among friends of the three, but police didn’t start investigating at it as a homicide until a girl told her psychiatrist what she had heard about the murder.
Attorneys for Goldman and Hankins objected to their clients’ statements to police being used in trial.
Earlier this week, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne ruled that a jury could hear the incriminating statements.
If the plea deal goes through, Harrison said the prosecutor has agreed to recommend the low end of the sentencing range. That would be a 22-year sentence in Goldman’s case.
“I think it’s reasonable,” Harrison said. “Given their ages and given what happened, I think it’s a good middle ground.”
Hankins’ trial is set for Oct. 8.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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