Kitsap Crime and Justice

A Los Angeles man arrested Thursday night by police in Port Orchard is wanted in California for the murder of his live-in girlfriend, according to the U.S. Marshal’s Office.

The body of Dina Canale, 36, of Reseda, Calif., was found Sept. 21 in a storage shed at her home. She’d been reported missing to the Los Angeles Police Department Sept. 5, marshals said.

Police determined that Canale’s live-in boyfriend, Mark Allen Steffen, 57, had fled to Washington around the time of her disappearance, and requested the help of the U.S. Marhsal’s area fugitive task force.

On Sept. 22, a warrant charging Steffen with homicide was issued in Los Angeles, marshals said.

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Testifying Thursday morning at the first-degree murder trial of a Seabeck man was Dr. Emmanuel Q. Lacsina, a forensic pathologist hired by Kitsap County with more than two decades experience and at least 11,000 autopsies under his belt.

Lacsina told jurors when a gun is used in a potential homicide, he investigates several factors and documents several pieces of evidence.

They include:

* Establishing which wounds are “entrance” wounds and which are “exit” wounds

* Determining if organs were involved in the bullet’s pathway

* Recovering all bullets inside the victim

* Taking and documenting hair, blood, fingernails and other specimens for evidence and toxicology lab study

As the chief pathologist in the death investigation of Russell Warren, 61, he determined that the cause of death was four bullet wounds and manner of death was
homicide, he told jurors.

Russell’s son, Martin, is currently on trial for his murder at their Seabeck home in October 2004.

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As this first-degree murder trial got underway today (Sept. 25), here’s what we know:

Seabeck resident Martin Warren, 36, is charged with the first-degree murder of his father, Russell Warren, 61, at the pair’s Komichan Lane home on the afternoon of Oct. 11, 2004.

Kitsap County Sheriff’s detectives believe Martin Warren, angry at his father for not letting him use a family car and allegedly high on methamphetamine, shot Russell Warren four times as he watched TV on the couch.

The case’s opening arguments were held Monday, followed by the prosecution calling personnel from the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, the lead law enforcement agency, to the stand.

Kitsap County Prosecutor Jim Mitchell argued Monday that jurors would “see the rage, see the thinking,” behind the killing, and that the alleged murder is “a simple case about rage taken to it’s ultimate conclusion.”

Defense Attorney Clayton Longacre argued Monday that while “something snapped,” Martin Warren had been subjected to many traumatic events in his childhood at the hands of his father, including an alleged rape and a murder, as well as introducing him to methampetamine and other drugs.

Tomorrow, we’ll continue our trial coverage and focus in on the prosecution’s witness testimony.

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It was a busy week in the courts and the political realm of criminal justice … there was a re-elected sheriff, a murder trial in its beginnings, and another that came to an end.

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Current Kitsap County Sheriff Steve Boyer secured his third term in the office Tuesday, beating challenger and veteran deputy Jim Rye by a 69 percent to 31 percent margin.

Boyer, who has held the post for two terms, is a veteran of the Washington State Patrol, serving in that organization for about 25 years.

Rye, a 33-year Kitsap County sheriff’s deputy, is a pioneer in many respects inside the office. He’d planned on retiring in 2007, but said his fellow deputies asked him to run for the position.

Both are Democrats, and with no Republican challenging Boyer in the November election, he’ll likely take the seat.

The position pays $102,502 per year.

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Wednesday will see the opening of State versus Martin Warren, a 36-year-old Seabeck man accused of killing his father, Russell M. Warren. Jury selection will begin the proceedings in Kitsap County Superior Court.

In all, there are six murder trials pending in Kitsap, counting Warren’s. Here are the other five:

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A murder trial. An escaped inmate. And a forged letter. All in this week’s crime and justice wrap.

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(Blogger’s note: I’ve received several queries lately about differences between law enforcement jurisdictions in our area. So I thought I’d rehash a blog entry from the past. Enjoy!)

When you’re reading through our “Code 911” section in the Kitsap Sun, you’ve probably noticed that different law enforcement agencies respond to different kinds of emergencies and crimes, in different locations.

This bears some appropriate interpretation.

Generally speaking, there are three different law enforcement agents that go to 911 calls in the county. Let’s start on the larger level, and work our way in:

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An arrest has been made in the Aug. 5 shooting death of East Bremerton resident John Falani Taueli in the parking lot of Redwood Plaza.

Kitsap County Sheriff Steve Boyer is scheduled to hold a media conference this afternoon to release more information about the arrest.

The suspect, who was arrested in Everett on Monday night, is scheduled to appear in Kitsap County Superior Court following the afternoon conference.

Taueli, 23, was shot in the stomach shortly after 2 a.m. in the parking lot of the Redwood Plaza in East Bremerton on Saturday, Aug. 5. He was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, but died after arrival.

Kitsap County Sheriff’s detectives have been working on this investigation for the past 37 days in a team effort involving sheriff’s patrol deputies, county and regional law enforcement agencies, support services staff, family members, witnesses, local businesses and local and regional media.

Stay tuned to www.kitsapsun.com for updates.

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Your week’s worth of crime and justice news is below.

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