EVERETT — More than three and a half years after his first arrest, jury selection began Tuesday in the final trial of Christian Sayre, the former bar owner accused of drugging and assaulting numerous women in Everett over the course of nearly a decade.
Lawyers will select a jury this week from a pool of 124 potential jurors, who began completing a questionnaire to help reduce the size of the pool. Dozens of potential jurors submitted hardship requests, citing reasons such as travel plans, medical issues, graduations, pregnancy and other matters unrelated to the case.
Numerous potential jurors cited strong feelings about sexual assault, and many had concerns about being unbiased.
Jury selection is expected to last through the week. Opening statements are scheduled for Monday, with the trial expected to conclude by May 16.
Defense attorneys Piper Salvator and David Roberson represented Sayre in court Tuesday. Sayre appeared in court in a salmon button-up shirt and slacks.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Millie Judge urged the group of potential jurors to not discuss the case in any way or consume news coverage or social media content related to it.
Sayre, who at one time faced more than 20 counts of sex-related crimes, is beginning his fourth trial after Judge agreed on Aug. 26, 2024, to separate his charges into four separate trials.
Juries from three earlier trials found Sayre guilty on all previous counts.
On Oct. 3, 2024, the jury found Sayre guilty of four counts of rape of a child in the third degree and two counts of possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the first degree.
About one month later, a second jury returned guilty verdicts for one count of second degree rape and three counts of indecent liberties.
A third jury returned four guilty verdicts on Jan. 30, including one count of second degree rape and three counts of indecent liberties.
Sayre faces three counts of indecent liberties and one count of second-degree rape, all stemming from allegations by different women, two of whom interacted with Sayre at his bar, the Anchor Pub.
Defense attorneys for Sayre denies two counts of indecent liberties and the second-degree rape charge and assert that the one count of indecent liberty involved consent, according to court documents.
Police initially arrested Sayre in Snohomish County on October 2021 on the suspicion of two counts of second-degree rape and one count of indecent liberties. His arrest followed multiple allegations of sexual assault.
In 2017, a woman reported an assault by Sayre at his home. After she had fallen outside the bar, Sayre helped her to his house, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her despite her protests.
In 2020, a woman reported being sexually assaulted by Sayre at his pub. Police said DNA evidence confirmed an assault had occured.
By early 2022, police had opened at least 20 investigations into Sayre, with many victims claiming they had been drugged at the bar and had little memory of the incidents despite consuming only small amounts of alcohol. Sayre was described by survivors in interviews with The Daily Herald as manipulative and predatory, with one calling him a “master manipulator” who used his position in the Everett bar scene to exploit vulnerable women.
In March 2022, authorities discovered a notebook with 32 names and hard drives containing child pornography at Sayre’s home. Several women named in the notebook came forward, reporting they were assaulted by Sayre, some as early as 2001.
Sayre’s alleged assaults date back to his time in Oregon, where police found a notebook in his home listing several women who later alleged Sayre sexually assaulted them in Oregon before he moved to Snohomish County in 2010.
Aspen Anderson: 425-339-3192; aspen.anderson@heraldnet.com; X: @aspenwanderson.
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