Manslaughter Trial Gets Underway For Seahawks’ Blades

Seattle Seahawks receiver Brian Blades went on trial Monday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of a cousin.

Blades had once entered a no-contest plea to the charge, but withdrew it and asked for a jury trial after prosecutors insisted that his punishment include time behind bars.

Police said the two men were struggling over a pistol when it fired at Blades’ Plantation home July 5, 1995. A single shot struck Charles Blades, 34, of Opalocka, in the chin.

Prosecutor Pete Magrino said Monday it was a shot fired in anger.

“He got angry, he got upset, and he proceeded in a course of conduct … that resulted in manslaughter,” Magrino told the jury in opening statements.

But defense attorney Bruce Zimet argued that the shooting was tragic, but not manslaughter.

“Charles Blades’ death was an accident, a tragedy; but his death wasn’t the result of the crime of manslaughter,” Zimet said.

Tight end and long snapper Trey Junkin, an unrestricted free agent who has spent the last six seasons with Seattle, was signed by the Oakland Raiders.

Green Bay added another wide receiver with the signing of free agent Rob Carpenter to a one-year contract.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Darnay Scott is to be arraigned today on four firearms charges stemming from a May 12 traffic stop in which police found two loaded guns in his car.

The Cincinnati Bengals strongly reiterated that the riverfront is the only acceptable site for a new tax-financed football stadium.

Team president Mike Brown stressed the stadium should be built near Riverfront Stadium, along the Ohio River.

But county officials recently raised the possibility of building the football stadium somewhere else. One alternative site is east of downtown, near the county jail.