The Associated Press
SEATTLE — Two years ago, a gunman shot four men at a Lake Union shipyard, killing two of them and setting off a frantic manhunt that took more than two months to apprehend a suspect.
On Monday, jury selection was scheduled to begin in King County Superior Court for the trial of Kevin Cruz, 41, of SeaTac — a former employee of the Northlake Shipyard.
Cruz, charged with two counts of aggravated murder and two counts of attempted murder, could face execution if convicted.
Several weeks ago, potential jurors were given questionnaires covering their opinions on the death penalty and other topics. The jury pool was reduced by about half, to 220 people, based on their responses.
Now potential jurors will be interviewed individually by prosecutors and defense attorneys, who will choose 12 jurors and several alternates.
The procedure takes time, and opening arguments in the case will likely not begin for about a month before Judge Ronald Kessler.
According to charging papers, Cruz entered the shipyard office on Nov. 3, 1999, and fatally shot Peter Giles, 27, and Russell Brisendine, 43, of Lynnwood. Jaromir Mach and Patrick Ming were wounded, but survived.
Cruz has been held in King County Jail on $4 million bail since his arrest in January 2000, after a passerby found a backpack in blackberry bushes near the scene of the attack.
He contends that he’s being framed. Defense witnesses are expected to testify that Cruz was calm the day of the slayings and had been seen at another location about the time the shootings occurred.
In pretrial arguments Thursday, the judge ruled that DNA evidence from the backpack was admissible, said Senior Deputy Prosecutor Steve Fogg. Inside the backpack were a number of items, including clothing, a handgun and a holster. The handgun was registered to David Anderson, a childhood friend of Cruz who had reported it stolen a year earlier.
According to court documents, ballistics experts have concluded the handgun was the murder weapon. When Cruz was arrested, he identified the backpack as his, but not the gun and holster.
As a result of advancements in DNA technology, court documents say, a Washington State Patrol Crime Lab forensics expert was able to take cell samples from the nylon holster and match them to Cruz’s DNA profile. The odds of having the same match are one in 600 million.
Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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