A judge on Monday denied a motion by the defense team for convicted killer Joseph McEnroe to delay the penalty phase of his trial that will determine if he is sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty for killing six people in Carnation in 2007.
A judge on Monday denied a motion by the defense team for convicted killer Joseph McEnroe to delay the penalty phase of his trial that will determine if he is sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty for killing six people in Carnation in 2007.
Defense attorney William Prestia asked King County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ramsdell to give them more time to prepare for the penalty phase trial, which is scheduled to begin Tuesday. Prestia said he and co-counsel Leo Hamaji needed more time to interview the seven witnesses who will be called by the state.
Ramsdell denied their motion as well as a second to exclude the seven witnesses from taking the stand.
The seven witnesses — friends and family of the six victims — will be calledto the stand by Senior Deputy Prosecutor Scott O’Toole after O’Toole and the defense give opening statements Tuesday morning. The jury will also view a memorial video of the six victims.
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Last Wednesday, McEnroe, 36, was convicted of killing his former girlfriend’s parents, Wayne and Judy Anderson; her brother and sister-in-law, Scott and Erica Anderson, and the younger couple’s children, Olivia, 5, and Nathan, 3. Jurors deliberated for about a day and a half before finding him guilty of six-counts of aggravated first-degree murder.
McEnroe is also expected to take the witness stand during the penalty phase of his trial. The defense is also expected to call his friends and family to testify on his behalf in hopes of winning leniency from the jury.
If the jury determines there are not enough mitigating factors to warrant a sentence of life in prison, McEnroe will be sentenced to death.
If the jury decides on a death sentence, McEnroe will be the first person condemned to death in King County since 2010, when Conner Schierman was convicted of killing a Kirkland family of four.