{"id":9355,"date":"2011-10-31T22:01:17","date_gmt":"2011-11-01T05:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=9355"},"modified":"2011-10-31T22:05:30","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T05:05:30","slug":"salkum-triple-murder-trial-begins-next-week-in-chehalis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=9355","title":{"rendered":"Salkum triple murder trial begins next week, in Chehalis"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker
\nLewis County Sirens news reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n

CHEHALIS – Judge Richard Brosey said most potential jurors don’t read the news as much as some lawyers seem to think when he denied a motion that John A. Booth Jr.’s upcoming triple-murder trial be moved out of Lewis County.<\/p>\n

\"2010.0821.salkum.triple.yearend\"<\/a>

Three fatally shot, Salkum<\/p><\/div>\n

Roger Hunko, attorney for Booth, had asked that his client’s trial be changed to a different venue because of so much pre-trial publicity by the news media.<\/p>\n

Brosey on Friday denied the motion, although he noted it could be revisited if attorneys encounter difficulties during jury selection.<\/p>\n

“There was no waving of the bloody shirt” by the news media, Brosey said, noting he thought most reporting was on the basic facts.<\/p>\n

Booth is scheduled to be tried starting Monday in Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old former Onalaskan is charged with murder and other offenses related to the August 2010 gunshot deaths of two men and a teenage boy inside a Salkum-Onalaska area home. Booth is also charged with attempted murder a woman in the same house the same night.<\/p>\n

Hunko and Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher went before the judge on Friday, to finalize details for next week’s trial.<\/p>\n

\"2010.1019.john.booth.small_2.newest\"<\/a>

John A. Booth Jr.<\/p><\/div>\n

Hunko made a motion to dismiss the attempted extortion charge, saying most of the evidence was circumstantial. Brosey denied the motion.<\/p>\n

The judge also denied Hunko’s request for a lengthy questionnaire to be given to potential jurors.<\/p>\n

Brosey did say he would make accommodations to ensure a fair trial such as bringing in a larger than usual group of potential jurors. He’s asked that as many as 160 people are available, he said.<\/p>\n

Meagher told the judge he has lined up 23 witnesses. The judge said he thought the trial might last a week to 10 days.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege Booth and Ryan J. McCarthy visited the house on Wings Way in connection with collecting money for drug debts or a “perceived” debt owed to Robert “Robbie” S. Russell. One of the victims, David West Sr. 52, was a witness in a pending case against Russell.<\/p>\n

Also shot dead were David West Jr., 16, and a friend Tony E. Williams, 50, of Randle. Denise Salts, then 51, survived a gunshot wound to her face.<\/p>\n

McCarthy was sentenced late last month to a little more than 14 years following a plea deal. He denies being guilty of the crimes he pleaded guilty to.<\/p>\n

Booth’s defense, according to documents in the court file, include general denial,and self defense \/ defense of others.
\n\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n

Read most recent story, “Court hearing reveals more details about Salkum triple slaying” from Saturday Oct. 1,\u00a0 2011, here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker Lewis County Sirens news reporter CHEHALIS – Judge Richard Brosey said most potential jurors don’t read the news as much as some lawyers seem to think when he denied a motion that John A. Booth Jr.’s upcoming triple-murder trial be moved out of Lewis County. Roger Hunko, attorney for Booth, had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10],"class_list":["post-9355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-story","tag-by-sharyn-l-decker","tag-news-reporter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9355"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9361,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9355\/revisions\/9361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}