SEATTLE -- More relatives and family friends testified Wednesday on behalf of Carnation killer Joseph McEnroe, saying he was a good person with a bad childhood.
The defense is hoping the testimony in the penalty phase of the trial will be enough to save his life.
The same King County jury that is hearing this testimony convicted McEnroe of murder March 25 in the deaths of his girlfriend's six family members in a Carnation home on Christmas Eve 2007.
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Defense decribes killer`s childhood
Defense decribes killer`s childhood
“Joe had a lot of responsibilities for a 8- or 9-year-old child,” family friend Martin Evans testified Wednesday.
His responsibilities included taking care of his three younger siblings.
For the past two days, family members and friends testified about McEnroe’s rough childhood with an allegedly abusive mother, who they say, always put her boyfriends before her kids.
“They weren’t good for Joey, they were not good for the other kids, they were selfish, greedy men,” Evans said.
The defense says as a child McEnroe protected his family. As an adult, they say, he played the same role for his girlfriend, Michele Anderson.
“I thought that she needed protection, that’s what I was there for, to protect her,” McEnroe said.
The defense claims McEnroe is mentally ill and that Michele tricked him into helping six members of her family.
Earlier this week, the convicted killer broke down on the stand as he described the scene at Michele’s parents Wayne and Judy Anderson’s Carnation home.
After killing Wayne and Judy, McEnroe says he waited for Michele’s brother Scott, his wife Erica and their two small children to show up to the home.
“She said this has to happen, this is still right, and I said, don't ask me to kill anybody else,” McEnroe said.
McEnroe confessed to police that he killed Scott’s family, including 3-year-old Nathan and 5 year-old Olivia to get rid of witnesses.
Despite McEnroe’s confession, the defense hopes sympathetic testimony will persuade the jury to give McEnroe life in prison instead of the death penalty.
Court ended early on Wednesday because of a sick juror. The defense will call McEnroe back to the stand Thursday, and the prosecution will get their chance to cross-examine him.