(February 2, 2009, sign outside Talarico’s, near the shooting scene)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Almost two full years after 26-year-old Steve Bushaw was shot and killed in The Junction, four suspects are about to go on trial.

Monday is the official start of the trial for Bryce Huber, Brandon Chaney, Danny O’Neal Jr., and John Sylve, arrested in December 2009, charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. But murder trials are complicated proceedings, even more so in a case like this with multiple defendants, so jury selection won’t start for at least another week, and testimony isn’t expected before late January.

For this look ahead, in addition to revisiting the WSB archives and King County court records, we have checked in with Steve Bushaw’s family, as well as the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

(February 1, 2009, photo by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
First, the backstory: It was late on the night of February 1st, 2009 – Super Bowl Sunday – when gunfire along California SW, midblock between Alaska and Edmunds, shattered a celebratory evening. Steve Bushaw, hit by at least two shots, ran into Talarico’s. At the time – as noted in our original report – his wounds were not described as life-threatening – some witnesses said they didn’t even see blood on his white shirt; but early Monday morning, police announced he had died. Two suspects were reported to have gotten away in a white Lexus.

Steve Bushaw’s West Seattle roots were deep; he was a West Seattle High School graduate, and had many relatives, including his young niece Ava, with whom he is shown in the photograph at left, provided by the family. By Monday afternoon, hours after his death was confirmed by police, friends and family had set up a memorial outside Talarico’s, writing condolences and memories on posterboard.

Many of those remembrances were shown inside Talarico’s the following Sunday, during a benefit to help raise money for medical/funeral expenses.

But one overriding thing was a source of both frustration and fear: The killer or killers had not yet been caught. And police were not publicly discussing anything they might have learned about a possible motive.

While we followed up from time to time as the months elapsed, no one was arrested for 10 months. Then in early December 2009, we had first word of four arrests in the killing.

Hours later, documents were released detailing the charges against the four suspects. We transcribed the very long narrative in this report; it revealed publicly that Steve Bushaw had been involved in selling marijuana, and alleged that he was killed in retaliation for a robbery that targeted his alleged supplier – a robbery that there was no evidence he had been involved with. But, the documents suggested, he knew someone suspected him, and feared his life was in danger.

The charging documents also detailed how cell-phone records were used to trace the suspects and solve the murder mystery – with Bryce Huber allegedly luring Bushaw to Talarico’s that night, going outside with him “for a smoke” – when O’Neal and Sylve allegedly showed up and opened fire, getting away in a car allegedly driven by Chaney.

As evidenced by the reader comments following our story detailing the charges, the story told in the court documents was a difficult one for Steve Bushaw’s family to hear, and to see told publicly. Despite the ambivalence over marijuana in our city’s laws – the official designation that it is the “lowest priority for police” – it nonetheless is illegal – a felony, if more than 40 grams are possessed – and for some who did not know him, it lowered the sympathy level. Steve’s sister Tanya Bushaw chose to speak in his defense – while noting she did not condone his marijuana selling – since, as she said, he could not do it himself. (Read her statement here.)

In the 13 months since the suspects were arrested, they have remained in jail, with various court appearances along the way, as the case unfolded. Bail for Huber, the alleged mastermind, Sylve and O’Neal, the alleged triggermen, is $1,000,000; for Chaney, the alleged getaway driver, $750,000.

Steve Bushaw’s family has been waiting to see them brought to trial; some family members may sit in on parts of the trial, according to Tanya Bushaw. We asked her if the family would consider an official statement, now that the trial is about to begin. Here’s what she wrote:

This has been a very long 2 years and we are filled with many mixed emotions as my brother’s trial is set to begin. Although, it is like we are rewinding back and re-living this whole terrible time all over again. This whole process has us feeling excited for justice to come, frustrated with it not coming sooner, sad and upset that it still doesn’t bring Stevie back to us, and happy that we are finally getting to a point of closure soon.

One thing we do know for sure right now is that this community of West Seattle and our friends and family, have all been so supportive of us and we truly cannot thank everyone enough. It means so much to me and my parents to read the kind, thoughtful words that so many people have expressed through the blog and to us personally.

As for how the trial will unfold, we have spoken both with the bailiff for Judge DuBuque and with Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Dan Donohoe. He says his office’s lead on the case is Senior Deputy Prosecutor James Konat. They are projecting a week and a half of “pre-trials” – motions and other procedural issues to lay the groundwork – before jury selection begins; the bailiff told us that phase is expected to start January 20th. WSB will be at the courthouse tomorrow to report on the trial’s official (albeit procedural) start.

SIDE NOTE: This is the first West Seattle murder-charges case to go to trial in more than two years; the last one was the October 2007 59th/Admiral shooting in which a teenager was charged with murder but found not guilty a year later by reason of self-defense. (We extensively covered that case as well – here’s our Halloween 2008 report on the verdict.) Steve Bushaw was one of two murder victims in West Seattle in February 2009; the other was 70-year-old Lavon Barrett, found beaten and stabbed in her Fauntleroy Way apartment; her grandson Dion Fillmore is awaiting trial for second-degree murder, with a trial date set later this year.