Kitsap Crime and Justice

CASE BACKGROUND: Testimony begins today in the case of State of Washington vs. Megan Mollet. Mollet is charged by county prosecutors with rendering criminal assistance to the man who killed Washington State Trooper Tony Radulescu on Feb. 23. Mollet is also charged with making false statements to police.

Mollet’s attorney is arguing that she was under duress at the time of and after the shooting.

We’re in a bit of a delay this morning but court is expected to begin shortly.

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CASE BACKGROUND: Megan G. Mollet, the 18-year-old charged by county prosecutors with rendering criminal assistance to the man authorities say murdered Washington State Trooper Tony Radulescu, is on trial this week.

Sixty people were considered to serve on the jury considering the charges against Mollet, including making a false statement to a public servant, a gross misdemeanor, and the original rendering charge, a felony.

This afternoon will be opening statements from Kitsap County Deputy Prosecutor Tim Drury and Mollet’s attorney, Jonathan Morrison.

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CASE BACKGROUND: The plaintiff Ostling family is expected to wrap up its case early this week. They’re suing the city of Bainbridge Island for alleged civil rights violations against Douglas Ostling, the night the 43-year-old was shot and killed by police.

Reporter Tristan Baurick will be in court live blogging the proceedings today. Court is set to begin at 9:30 a.m.

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CASE BACKGROUND: Did police violate the civil rights of 43-year-old Douglas Ostling when they responded to his home for his 911 call, shot him as he held an axe and then refused to let anyone go into his room as he bled to death?

That’s what eight jurors in Tacoma’s federal U.S. District Court will have to decide.

Ostling’s estate, as well as his parents, William and Joyce, are suing the city of Bainbridge Island and its police chief, Jon Fehlman, along with Officer Jeff Benkert, the man who fired the shot that caused the fatal injury.

On Monday, we heard opening statements.

On Tuesday, we heard from Officer Benkert.

And today, we’re hearing from Officer David Portrey, who was with Benkert at the time. There may be other witnesses, too.

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CASE BACKGROUND: Bremerton jazz musician Mark Lewis will likely find out today if he’ll get a new trial — or sentenced for obstructing police last September.

The prominent musician, who is legally blind, was found guilty in January of obstructing a Bremerton officer. Lewis contended at his January trial he did not know he was dealing with a police officer.

Police said he grabbed onto an officer’s gun in a tussle.

Lewis, who was acquitted of disorderly conduct by the jury, said he was attempting to hail a cab when his fare money went into Kitsap Way. He attempted to retrieve it and a man called 911 reporting his being in traffic.

Lewis has appealed for a new trial and Bremerton Municipal Court Judge James Docter will decide if he should get one. If not, Lewis will be sentenced. The conviction carries up to a year in jail, but Lewis, who has no criminal history, would likely receive less than the maximum.

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Note: Due to technical difficulties this morning (the county’s Wi-Fi appears to be down), the live blog is starting late.

CASE BACKGROUND: Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Leila Mills will sentence a South Kitsap teen this morning following his conviction by a jury in December of the murder of 87-year-old Ruby Andrews.

Daniel J. Mustard, 19, faces up to life in prison for stabbing to death Andrews at her Puget Drive home on April 5, 2009.

A seven-week trial saw prosecutors argue Mustard killed Andrews in a “robbery that went haywire,” killed the 87-year-old and taking valuables from her home.

Mustard’s defense attorney argued his client was under psychosis due to a “psychotropic cocktail” of drugs he was being medicated with for a mental disease.

Shortly before deliberations, Mills ruled that jurors couldn’t consider the insanity defense in the case. Jurors found him guilty of both first- and second-degree murder. Mustard’s attorney vowed to appeal the conviction.

We’ll get started here at 9 a.m.

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THE CASE BACKGROUND: Well-known Bremerton jazz musician Mark Lewis is fighting charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after an incident in September on Kitsap Way.

Accounts of the incident offered by Lewis and by the officers who arrested him vary greatly.

Police contend the 52-year-old, who performs each Saturday at El Coral Mexican Restaurant on Fourth Street, was acting aggressively and had punched a sign at a fast-food restaurant before grabbing onto an officer’s gun during a tussle.

Lewis, a Key Peninsula native who is legally blind, said he was disoriented and had no idea why he was being handcuffed and arrested.

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THE CASE BACKGROUND: Jane Roe (not her real name) was fired from TeleTech in East Bremerton in 2007 because she failed a drug test. However, she was legally using marijuana as medicine under state law to treat migraine headaches. She sued after losing her job.

The case was thrown out of Kitsap County Superior Court. It was appealed by Roe’s attorneys to the court of appeals, who ruled that the state’s medical marijuana act does not protect patients in employment situations.

This morning, the state’s supreme court will hear from attorneys on both sides and debate this issue: does the state’s medical marijuana law provide any protection to legal medical marijuana patients in the workplace? We’ll cover it live beginning at 10:30 a.m.

I’ve also posted the video here, via TVW, of the arguments so you can also hear them for yourself.

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THE BACKGROUND: A deputy prosecutor will stand in on behalf of the state in Kitsap County’s traffic court for the first time this afternoon.

The move was a part of Kitsap County Prosecutor Russ Hauge’s plan to boost revenues during the county’s budget discussions last fall. He told the county commissioners having a prosecutor to help present the case of the police who wrote the ticket could lead to about $148,000 in additional revenue.

Up until now, Hauge told the commissioners that “if you know the magic words to say,” tickets would be dismissed without an argument from prosecutors — because no prosecutor was ever in court.

Another program aimed at relicensing motorists charged with suspended driving — before almost always reduced to a $124 ticket — also begins today. Drivers will now face a $250 fine under a so-called “diversion” program. The good news for defendants, however, is it is a pathway to becoming licensed again, prosecutors argued. That program could bring in more than $356,000, Hauge argued to commissioners.

The programs only affect Ktsap County District Court — not in courts in Poulsbo, Port Orchard, Bremerton or Bainbridge Island.

A story about the first day of the two programs will be posted later today.

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CASE BACKGROUND: Closing arguments are slated this morning in the trial of Daniel J. Mustard, 19, accused of stabbing to death 87-year-old Ruby Andrews in South Kitsap on April 5, 2009.

The trial has largely revolved around Mustard’s mental state at the time of the crime. Jurors will be asked to decide whether he knew the nature and quality of his act on that day. Jurors will be asked to consider whether he could form the intent of his actions due to “involuntary intoxication” or “diminished capacity.”

He faces a life sentence if convicted of first-degree premeditated murder or a commitment at Western State Hospital if acquitted.

Closing arguments are slated to start about 9:30 a.m. or so.

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