With cold-case murder conviction overturned by state court, former AG explains what went wrong

A Washington state appeals court has overturned the cold-case murder conviction against William Earl Talbott II, accused of killing a young Canadian couple in 1987. The defense cited juror bias in their argument as one of the jurors, seated by now retired Superior Court Judge Linda Krese, claimed that her prior experience with domestic violence might “cloud her judgement.”

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Former state Attorney General Rob McKenna joined KIRO Radio’s Seattle’s Morning News to break down what led up to the court’s decision.

“It had to do with a juror whom the Court of Appeals concluded demonstrated actual bias,” McKenna explained. “The defense attorneys attempted to have her dismissed from the jury for cause. The prosecutor opposed that, wanted her seated, and the Court sided with the prosecution and allowed this juror to be seated, even though she expressed doubts about her ability to be impartial when they were interviewing her.”

“Her mother had been the victim of domestic violence, and she’d been exposed to it. Juror number 40 had a 14-month-old daughter. Feeling very protective as a mom, she was very honest with the court, saying, ‘Look, I will do my best, I will try. I will do my very best … to be impartial,’” he continued.

“But the Court of Appeals after Talbott was convicted— who filed his appeal in part based on this issue— concluded the Talbott was denied his right to an impartial jury.”

McKenna says the law is clear on this.

“When the court finds that a jury or a juror is actually biased, that’s a basis for reversal,” he said. “You don’t even have to show that there was an actual impact or effect from the juror [demonstrating] actual bias. Under the law, [that] is a basis for reversal. And you don’t have to show actual prejudice. That’s what this came down to. I have to say it’s a very interesting case, because in addition to that, … he could be convicted next time.”

McKenna summarized the evidence presented in Talbott’s original cold-case murder conviction. The murders occurred in 1987 with DNA evidence left behind. The problem, however, was the lack of a genetic match. Detectives used DNA found from an ancestry database to identify a suspect. Upon trailing that suspect and picking up a coffee cup Talbott had discarded, police were able to match DNA left on the cup to the crime scene.

Ultimately, McKenna was surprised by a number of factors that led to the appeals court’s decision to overturn the cold-case murder conviction.

“Overturning a conviction based on juror bias requires proving that there was an abuse of discretion by the judge,” McKenna said.

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“That’s a really high standard: abuse of discretion by the trial judge,” he added. “So I don’t know why the judge sided with the prosecutor, instead of the defense attorney, after that interview with juror number 40.”

“The second thing I don’t understand is why the prosecution worked so hard to to get her on the jury when they should have realized they’re running the risk of a reversal, given the way that interview went,” McKenna said.

“Number three, I don’t understand why the defense team didn’t use one of the peremptory challenges to have a removal, because they didn’t use all the peremptory challenges. They challenged her for cause,” he said. “They used the for cause challenge, and they lost. Any defendant is entitled to having an impartial jury, and the Court of Appeals concluded based on pretty strong evidence that did not happen here.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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