An eleventh-hour bid to halt the trial of a teenage murder defendant failed Friday when a state Court of Appeals commissioner refused to grant a stay of proceedings.
Defense attorneys want to appeal a Snohomish County Superior Court judge’s pretrial decision not to dismiss the case. The trial is scheduled to start Monday.
Jenson Hugh Hankins, 17, of Seattle goes on trial in the Aug. 21, 2003, beating and stabbing death of classmate John Jasmer, 16, whose body was recovered about a week later from a grave on the Tulalip Indian Reservation.
Hankins’ lawyers, Sean Devlin and Rachel Levy, complained that custodial officers violated attorney-client privilege when they intercepted a 22-page document written by Hankins. They tried to get Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne’s to dump the first-degree murder charge, but the jurist refused.
The defense lawyers argued that custodial staff read part of the confidential document. Hankins is housed at the Denney Juvenile Justice Center in Everett.
The document was labeled attorney-client material. The interception, brief review by custody officers and notification of the prosecuting attorney violated attorney-client privilege and gave the state an advantage, the defense lawyers argued.
Earlier this week, Wynne said he would not grant a delay to see if an appeals court would review his decision before trial.
Levy and Devlin asked the Court of Appeals for a review and an emergency stay, leading to a hearing Friday afternoon with the court’s commissioner, Susan Craighead.
Late Friday, Craighead told the attorneys she wouldn’t grant a delay, and said the issue can be reviewed later if Hankins is convicted.
Devlin told Craighead that Wynne should have presumed the defense had been prejudiced by information gleaned from the document and Hankins now can’t get a fair trial.
“I believe the Court of Appeals must decide now,” Devlin told Craighead. He said he doesn’t know what the prosecutor learned from the document or how the state benefited.
Deputy prosecutor Ed Stemler, on the other hand, told the commissioner, “The state learned nothing new.” He told Craighead that the document was sealed in an envelope and delivered to Wynne. Neither he nor a sheriff’s investigator actually saw it, Stemler said.
He added that his witnesses are ready and the victim’s family has been waiting more than a year for a resolution.
“I don’t think there’s a good reason to stop the trial now,” Stemler said. The defense motion can be addressed on appeal if Hankins is convicted, he added.
Hankins’ co-defendant, Joshua David Goldman, 18, pleaded guilty to murder in August and stands to spend more than two decades behind bars.
Prosecutors allege that Hankins and Goldman lured Jasmer to an isolated spot where they had dug a grave the day before the death. Prosecutors say the attack was revenge because the defendants suspected Jasmer had sexually assaulted Hankins’ girlfriend. All the teens were students at Roosevelt High School in Seattle.
The trial in Judge Anita Farris’ courtroom is expected to last about two weeks.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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