A King County judge ruled April 22 that media may continue to attend hearings in the case against the Fall City teen charged in the October 2024 deaths of five family members.
Judge Veronica Galvan denied a defense motion to close portions of an upcoming decline hearing to the public and press. A decline hearing is a proceeding in which a judge determines whether a juvenile case should be transferred to adult court.
Defense attorneys had argued that closing portions of the hearing was necessary to protect confidential mental health evaluation material and preserve the teen’s right to a fair trial. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office opposed the closure. The decline hearing is now scheduled for June 22, 2026.
The teen was 15 when he was arrested in October 2024 following the shooting deaths of his parents and three siblings at the family’s home near Lake Alice Road in Fall City. His younger sister survived with injuries. He faces five counts of Aggravated Murder in the First Degree and one count of Attempted Murder in the First Degree, all designated as domestic violence offenses.
