Jury selection begins in shootings
SEATTLE – Jury selection is under way for the trial of Naveed Haq, accused of killing one woman and wounding five others in a shooting rampage at a Seattle Jewish center in July 2006.
The case features an unusually large pool – nearly 400 potential jurors showed up Friday – and it is expected to take at least three weeks to select the jury. The trial promises to be one of King County’s most intense and complex criminal trials in recent years.
Haq, 32, is accused of storming into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and shooting as he railed against the Iraq war and Israel. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to one count of aggravated first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of first-degree kidnapping, one count of unlawful imprisonment, six counts of first-degree burglary and six counts of malicious harassment – the state’s hate-crime law.
If convicted, he faces life in prison without parole; late King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng decided not to seek the death penalty because of Haq’s history of mental illness.
So far, lawyers have primarily questioned the potential jurors about their ability to serve; the trial is expected to last six weeks. Around the end of this month, lawyers will begin asking more detailed questions during “voir dire” – aiming to determine whether they harbor biases that could affect the outcome of the case.
Defense lawyers argue that media coverage presents a “formidable challenge” to finding an unbiased jury.
“Given the breadth of negative coverage that has plagued Mr. Haq’s case, the juror pool is certainly polluted,” wrote defense attorneys John Carpenter and C. Wesley Richards in their request for “substantial time” to question the potential jurors in regard to bias.
They also argue that the phrase “hate crime” is “an inflammatory and erroneous label … as the crimes here were borne from severe mental illness.”
Prosecutors say Haq selected his victims because of his hatred for Jews and his perceptions about his victims’ beliefs. While Haq was being treated for mental illness at the time of the shootings, the state’s witnesses are expected to testify that neither his counselor nor nurse noted any symptoms that indicated psychosis when they saw him three days before he entered the federation offices.
Among the pretrial issues to be decided by Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas is whether all evidence discovered at Haq’s apartment and the statements he made to police should be suppressed. Those include statements about Israel, Iraq, Lebanon and Jews; Internet research he told police he did the day before the shootings; his medications; and his guns.
Haq’s attorneys say police violated his legal rights when they continued interrogating him after he requested a lawyer. Prosecutors have responded that Haq’s statements were made voluntarily. The judge will hold a special hearing to determine if the statements are admissible.