SEATTLE — A Seattle jury on Wednesday convicted a 36-year-old man for killing six members of his ex-girlfriend’s family on Christmas Eve 2007.
Jurors deliberated for less than two days before finding Joseph McEnroe guilty of six counts of first-degree murder with aggravating circumstances in King County Superior Court.
McEnroe faces either life in prison without parole or execution, which jurors will decide in a second phase of the trial.
He showed little emotion when the verdict was read in the courtroom, the Seattle Times reported.
Prosecutors say McEnroe and his former girlfriend, Michele Anderson, shot and killed three generations of her family: her parents, Wayne and Judy Anderson; her older brother, Scott Anderson, and his wife, Erica; and the younger couple’s children, 5-year-old Olivia and 3-year-old Nathan.
King County Deputy Prosecutor Scott O’Toole said the rampage in the small farming town of Carnation, east of Seattle, was well-planned and clearly premeditated. He said McEnroe believed Anderson had been slighted by her family.
Defense attorney Leo Hamaji argued that McEnroe was coerced into the killings by his ex-girlfriend, and argued for convictions of second-degree murder.
Anderson is to be tried later this year.
McEnroe did not testify at the trial, which began Jan. 20.
O’Toole said McEnroe shot Wayne and Judy Anderson, hid their bodies and carefully cleaned the home, the Seattle Times reported. When Anderson’s brother and his family arrived for Christmas Eve dinner, Michele Anderson shot the brother, while McEnroe shot Erica Anderson and the children, O’Toole said.
