Three reader reports in this West Seattle Crime Watch roundup – read on:Read More

(12:21 PM UPDATE: We now have prosecution reaction after a mixed decision at the monthlong trial in the Steve Bushaw murder case. Bryce Huber is guilty; the jury could not reach a decision regarding Brandon Chaney, so his case ends in mistrial. The victim’s family says Huber is the one they most wanted to see convicted. The following begins with as-it-happened updates from WSB editor Tracy Record at the courthouse.)

8:58 AM: We’re in the King County Superior Court Judge Joan DuBuque‘s courtroom, awaiting word of the jury’s decision in the monthlong trial of two men charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Steve Bushaw. The 26-year-old West Seattleite (right) was killed the night of February 1, 2009, shot in the middle of California SW by two men who already have pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. In this trial, which we have been covering since the start, defendant Bryce Huber is accused of luring Bushaw to his death; defendant Brandon Chaney is accused of driving the getaway car. The seven-woman, five-man jury has deliberated three full days since getting the case late last Wednesday; the trial began August 1st. The victim’s family members have arrived; so have two of the three lawyers. We’ll cover this as it happens.

9:14 AM: Both defendants are now here, escorted by uniformed, armed King County Jail officers as always, cuffs taken off just before they sit down at the table with their lawyers. About three dozen spectators, mostly family of victim/defendants, are in the courtroom now.

9:17 AM: Judge DuBuque has announced the jury says they have reached a verdict for one defendant and is “unable to reach a verdict for the other.” They asked for directions. The judge is asking the lawyers what they think. She says she doesn’t know which defendant is matched to which circumstance. (9:21) They will call in the jury to ask the presiding juror if there is any hope they will reach a verdict on the second defendant.

9:24 AM: The presiding juror says “no,” after the judge warned that nothing else must be said. The jury now is leaving the courtroom so the judge and lawyers can consult. (9:27) At the request of Huber’s lawyer Tony Savage, the jurors are being brought back to ask if they all agree with the presiding juror’s answer. One voice said “no.” They’re being sent out again. (9:31) Savage says he’s OK with accepting one verdict and one mistrial (we still don’t know which defendant is which), so the jurors are being brought back out for the announcement.

9:32 AM: The jury is back. The verdict has been given to the bailiff. Huber is guilty. The family is gasping. He is guilty of murder in the first degree, with firearm enhancement (which adds 5 years to the sentence). This means Chaney’s case is deadlocked, and a mistrial is declared. A date will be set in a few weeks regarding what happens next. (added) Huber’s sentencing is set for 9 am September 16th, and later that day, there will be a hearing regarding the next steps toward a new trial for Chaney. The defendants, officers, and lawyers are leaving.

(Photo added, by Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times: Steve’s mother Meg Bushaw, hugged by daughter Tanya Bushaw)
The family is still standing in the courtroom. We had made an earlier request to speak with anyone who chose to spoke on their behalf, so we are going out in hopes of talking with them.

9:52 AM: Steve Bushaw’s only sibling, Tanya Bushaw, tells WSB she is “very happy. (Huber) was the one and only person we had been wanting the most out of the case. He is the one who lured my brother (to his death), and the one who put my brother’s name up” (in relation to the home-invasion robbery of a friend of Huber’s, which was the motive in the shooting’s complicated backstory). Tanya also said that, regarding the mistrial for Chaney, “of all the people (in the case), if one was to have a mistrial, he would have been my very first choice.” Tanya and Steve’s dad Ron Bushaw said simply, “I’m happy that one of them was found guilty, and I hope the other will be.”

10:23 AM NOTE: Our partners at the Seattle Times had a crew in the courtroom for the verdict and we expect to be able to add some of their photos later; we have added a file shot of Huber in the meantime, taken during January proceedings, by Christopher Boffoli for WSB. (added – their photo of Huber)

(Photo by Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times)
It should also be noted that the two men who admitted shooting Bushaw, John Sylve and Danny O’Neal, are scheduled to be sentenced by Judge DuBuque at 2 pm September 30th.

12:18 PM UPDATE: King County Prosecuting Attorney‘s Office spokesperson Dan Donohoe says the jury was split 8-4 for convicting Chaney – this was not announced in open court, but jurors were offered the chance to talk with the lawyers afterward – and his office is considering a retrial. Also regarding the oft-asked question of potential charges against others who have emerged as possibly involved: “We will be reviewing information presented at trial and other evidence regarding the potential involvement of others.”

TUESDAY NIGHT NOTE: The KCPAO’s official summary of the trial’s end can be read here; it notes that Huber will face a sentencing range of 25-31 years in prison, while Sylve and O’Neal face 15-23 years. One other note: WSB complete coverage of the entire trial is archived here, newest-to-oldest.

We’re at the King County Courthouse, staked out awaiting word of a decision in the Steve Bushaw murder trial, but there won’t be one today – the jury has just gone home for the day. However, Judge Joan DuBuque‘s bailiff has just informed WSB that, “The jury will have some news for us tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock.”

Jurors have now deliberated for three full days, after getting the case toward the end of the day last Wednesday. They are deciding the fate of two men who are charged with first-degree murder though Bushaw was shot on February 1st, 2009, by two other men, both of whom pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder. WSB is the only news organization that has been covering the trial; our coverage is archived here, newest to oldest.

A car theft, two burglaries, and a car break-in are among the West Seattle Crime Watch reports that have come in over the past day/night – so here’s a longer-than-usual roundup.Read More

(UPDATE: No verdict on Friday; the jurors continue deliberating Monday.)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Seven women and five men are now deciding the fate of the two defendants on trial for the murder of Steve Bushaw, a West Seattle native shot to death in the middle of California SW on Super Bowl Sunday 2009.

Before the case went to those jurors on Wednesday afternoon, they were the audience for impassioned arguments from the three lawyers in the case – King County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Baird, defendant Brandon Chaney‘s lawyer Jim Roe, and defendant Bryce Huber‘s lawyer Tony Savage.

All three are veterans, decades in their profession, countless cases. Yet for them, for the jurors, for King County Superior Court Judge Joan DuBuque and her staff, for the defendants, for their families, for the victim’s families, for those who have observed, this trial has consumed the final month of the summer of 2011.

As each lawyer in turn faced the jurors on Wednesday to make his last pitch, the spectators in the courtroom sat as rapt as the jury, listening, watching. Who would deliver the knockout blow? Who would tie together the complex evidence – from cell-phone records to relationships involving key yet uncharged figures in the case – to render the most believable version of, this is what really happened in the weeks, days, hours, minutes before gunfire in the middle of California SW cut short a man’s life at just 26?

For the jury, of course, the task was different – simply, did the prosecution prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Chaney and Huber are guilty of murder, though two other men have pleaded guilty to firing the deadly shots?

The day began with the official instructions to the jurors:Read More

At 3:38 pm, the lawyers in the Steve Bushaw murder trial finished their closing arguments (including the final rebuttal from prosecutor Jeff Baird), and the jury has gone off to start deliberating. We’ll summarize the gist of the arguments in a story later.

(Photo by Katie Meyer for WSB)
We have more information today on last night’s 44th/Stevens hit-run crash that sent four people to the hospital, including two children, who we now know are 5 and 9 years old. Police say the driver reported to have run from the scene is a juvenile – 16 years old – and that his breath test was over the legal drunkenness level. Read on for more details:Read More

Hope you never need to report a stolen vehicle – but if you do, we’re committed to helping get the word out as part of West Seattle Crime Watch. Jeff just e-mailed to report:

My 2005 white Landcruiser was stolen Monday evening from the Admiral district. Plate number 208SWW. Please call Jeff At 206-390-5919 if you see it.

We’re at the King County Courthouse, where the jury in the Steve Bushaw murder trial has already been sent home for the day, and closing arguments are expected to start first thing tomorrow morning. The final testimony included a brief appearance by defendant Brandon Chaney‘s girlfriend, asked only about a phone call from him the night of the murder, a “rebuttal” appearance by the main Seattle Police detective on the case, James Cooper, asked about interviewing Chaney again in January of this year, and a brief reappearance by Chaney himself. Defendant Bryce Huber‘s lawyer did not call any witnesses. This afternoon, the lawyers and King County Superior Court Judge Joan DuBuque will reconvene to discuss the wording of jury instructions (for those following closely, please note, we’re not planning to cover that), and then everyone’s expected back at 9 am tomorrow for closing arguments, after which the case will go to the jury.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Unless something dramatic happens in the next day or two, Brandon Chaney will be the only one of the two defendants testifying in the ongoing Steve Bushaw murder trial.

Chaney (shown at left in January 2011 WSB photo) was on the stand all day Monday, beginning the fourth week of testimony before a jury in King County Superior Court Judge Joan DuBuque‘s courtroom, which is likely to be the last – as few as two more witnesses remain, and the lawyers and judge are already talking extensively about how to craft jury instructions.

Monday began with prosecutor Jeff Baird formally resting his case, before jurors entered, so that a motion could be argued. It highlighted some tension that’s perhaps inherent in the double-defendant, single-case format.

Read More

From Len:

Our house (in the 3000 block of) 46th Ave [map] was burglarized today between 4.30 pm and 5.15 pm (when my wife went to pick up our kids). The thieves made off with an iPad, a laptop, a bottle of vodka, some clothing, and some of my wife’s jewelry. They attempted to unplug the flat-screen TV but gave up for whatever reason. Most of the jewelry has only sentimental value and has been passed down through generations. The thieves used a blue canvas bag with the words AHLA on it to haul away their loot.

The thieves appear to have entered through an open upstairs window facing the alley between 45th and 46th aves. None of our neighbors saw much of anything, despite being outside at the time. One neighbor reported seeing a dark, late-model Cadillac with two caucasian males in it driving erratically near at the entrance to the alley on Hanford around 4 pm. Not clear if this is related. They could have been on foot as they didn’t take anything big.

As of an hour ago, they were awaiting police, so they could file a report.

Meantime, if you do see anything even somewhat suspicious, police reiterate, call 911 – that’s what led to an arrest on Beach Drive last week, reported by Beach Drive Blog.

Quick toplines from the first day of the fourth week of testimony in the trial of two of the four men charged in the murder of 26-year-old Steve Bushaw in the middle of a West Seattle street on Super Bowl night in February 2009. Defendant Brandon Chaney spent the entire day on the witness stand, claiming he had no knowledge of a plan to shoot Bushaw until the two confessed shooters, John Sylve and Danny O’Neal, ran to the car he was driving that night and yelled “GO!” All three lawyers finished their questioning of him around 3:30, and then they spent some time talking with the judge about the instructions that will be given to the jury before they begin deliberating. Chaney’s lawyer Jim Roe indicated he has one more witness to call; prosecutor Jeff Baird says he has at least one “rebuttal witness”; defendant Bryce Huber’s lawyer Tony Savage appeared to indicate he would not call any witnesses – he had already said his client probably wouldn’t testify. Once the defense rests, both sides will get to present their closing arguments before the case goes to the jury. The contention has been that Huber and Chaney were in on the shooting plan, conceived as retribution on behalf of a friend of both men who was beaten up in a home-invasion robbery two weeks earlier, because that friend allegedly believed Bushaw had masterminded the robbery (but wasn’t present).

A 25-year-old man is in jail after allegedly attacking a cab driver with a stun gun early this morning in the Morgan Junction area. We heard a bit about the incident via the scanner and just obtained the report from Seattle Police. The cab driver told police he had picked up the suspect in The Junction and was told he wouldn’t have to go far. According to the driver, he was directed through a few side streets southwest of California/Fauntleroy – and then around 46th and Fauntleroy, the suspect grabbed him from behind and “drove an electric stun gun into his side 3-4 times.” At that point, the report says, the driver lost control of the cab, which then hit a vehicle on SW Frontenac. The suspect got out and so did the driver, running after him until the suspect jumped a fence. A K-9 unit came to help try to track down the suspect; the stun gun was found in the 4600 block of SW Maple (map), while the suspect was found about a block away, hiding under a van. Police say the suspect doesn’t live in the Morgan Junction area; they didn’t find any money on him, but did find 4 grams of marijuana. He told them after being advised of his rights that he didn’t know what he was doing in the back seat of a patrol car, and it was, the report says he claimed, “all King County Jail’s fault.” (The register shows his most recent stay there, in an assault case, ended on the 4th of July.) The cab driver didn’t want to go to the hospital, but did have what the report calls “a series of red, raised welts near his belt line above his hip.”

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The fourth week of testimony in the first West Seattle murder case to go to trial in three years begins Monday morning. Week #3 concluded Thursday with the final witness prosecutor Jeff Baird had said he would call, Det. James Cooper (who had briefly been on the stand a week earlier).

This daylong stint on the stand painted the picture of how police developed their case, with tools including cell-phone records and Facebook friend lists, over the course of more than half a year following the deadly shooting of Steve Bushaw (right) in the middle of California SW in The Junction on Super Bowl Sunday night 2009.

Read More