EVERETT — The murder trial into the brutal bludgeoning death of a Sultan man got under way Wednesday after a judge ruled that text messages that appear to document the killing could be introduced as evidence.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Castleberry denied two defense motions that would have prevented prosecutors from using text messages the defendants allegedly sent to one another after the June 26 death of David Grimm.
Debra Canady, 46, is accused of helping to plan and cover up the death of her ex-boyfriend. She and her current boyfriend, Brent Starr, 31, are charged with first-degree murder.
Starr is accused of beating Grimm to death with a hammer while the 49-year-old man slept.
On the day of the beating, prosecutors allege that Starr sent Canady a text message that read, “It’s done,” and asked his girlfriend to fetch a change of pants, according to court documents.
Later, he reportedly sent another message telling her he found clean pants and apologized for making a mess of Grimm’s room.
The cell-phone text messages show Canady knew the killing was going to take place and that it was “possibly at her direction,” sheriff’s detective Patrick VanderWeyst wrote in a search warrant.
Defense attorneys on Wednesday argued that mobile phone company Verizon wasn’t properly authorized to release the text messages. Flaws in Verizon’s software made it impossible to know if the information the company provided to Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives was accurate, they said. The lawyers also questioned the credentials of a Verizon representative who testified during the morning hearing.
The judge said it was inevitable that the text messages would have been discovered by detectives, especially since they were requested by both a search warrant and a subpoena. Castleberry acknowledged the company’s software omitted pieces of text messages, but he ruled that none of the pertinent messages was altered. And he found the company representative to be highly qualified.
If credible, the judge said the messages were “damning and critical to the prosecution’s case.”
Opening arguments were scheduled to begin Wednesday afternoon.
Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
