EVERETT — The man accused of murdering an Oso couple in 2016 now won’t face trial until May.
John Blaine Reed was to have gone on trial in February. He’s charged with aggravated murder in the gunshot killings of Patrick Shunn and Monique Patenaude.
Everett attorney Phil Sayles on Wednesday asked for more time. There are dozens of witnesses that still likely will need to be interviewed and defense experts still need to complete work on forensic reports, he said in an affidavit filed in Snohomish County Superior Court.
“The declarant does not feel he can effectively and adequately represent the defendant in this case if he is not given a continuance for at least a few months,” Sayles wrote.
Craig Matheson, the county’s chief criminal deputy prosecutor, asked Judge Bruce Weiss to take steps to insure that there no undue delays in completion of defense expert reports. The judge scheduled a Jan. 30 hearing for review.
Patenaude and Shunn disappeared in April 2016 and later were found buried in a makeshift grave several miles from their Oso-area home.
Reed, their former neighbor, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison if convicted as charged. He’s pleaded not guilty and through his lawyer has said he plans to argue he killed in self defense.
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