PORT ANGELES — The murder trial of Andrea Freese, a 34-year-old woman with paranoid personality disorder, is scheduled to begin at 9:15 a.m. today in Clallam County Superior Court.
A panel of 12 jurors and two alternates was selected by Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly and Public Defender John Hayden in a daylong process Tuesday presided over by Superior Court Judge George Wood.
Freese is accused of second-degree murder in the July 28, 2007, stabbing death of Charles Boze, her 73-year-old sometimes housemate, at his home in west Port Angeles.
She called police at 7:35 p.m. that day to say she had been punched and had stabbed a man, according to court documents.
Boze stabbed to death
Police found Boze unresponsive and not breathing in his kitchen, “a butcher-style knife” on the living room floor and Freese “covered in blood,” Port Angeles Police Officer David Arand said in court documents.
Freese is being held in Clallam County jail on $500,000 bail.
If found guilty, she could serve a maximum sentence of life in prison.
“It’s not a whodunit,” Kelly told 48 prospective jurors Tuesday before the 14 were chosen. “The issue is self-defense.”
Freese faced the packed courtroom with Hayden sitting at her side.
Dressed in a striped shirt and her hair in pigtail buns, she concentrated on writing on the legal pad before her.
Before the questioning of jurors — voir dire — Wood described Freese as having paranoid personality disorder.
That is a condition associated with excessive distrust and suspicion of others and inability to form close relationships, according to www.mentalhealth.com.
“Her heightened anxiety because of this disorder means she views things from a different perspective,” Wood said.
Dr. Brett Trowbridge of Western State Hospital, who Wood said would be allowed to testify, made that diagnosis during her court-ordered stay there from Sept. 12, 2008, to Nov. 26, 2008, Kelly said in a later interview.
Kelly added that it may have been the first time Freese’s condition was described in open court.
Under Wood’s ruling, Trowbridge will be allowed to testify about Freese’s fear of Boze.
She told Trowbridge and others that, at a time previous to the stabbing, she awoke from sleep to find Boze “standing over her with his hands under her shirt” and that Boze “cut the crotch out from a pair of pants,” according to a Prosecuting Attorney’s Office memo.
“It seems to me that if someone wakes up with someone’s hands all over them, a normal person would be fearful of them,” Wood said.
Trowbridge also can testify about Freese’s efforts to be admitted to Western State Hospital and a 9-1-1 operator “laughing at her,” Wood said.
Potential jurors filled out a questionnaire asking about their familiarity with news media accounts of the stabbing, whether they have spoken to anyone or formed an opinion about the case and any “special training or experience working in the mental health field.”
All who had read media accounts were allowed to remain as potential jurors.
Kelly and Hayden made it clear during their questioning of those jurors that mental health issues will be a major part of the case.
When Hayden asked the packed courtroom who did not know someone with mental health issues, no one raised a hand.
More than a dozen witnesses are scheduled to testify.
Testimony will be taken today and Thursday and will resume Monday.
Kelly, who may take three days to present her case, said she will call first responders including Arand, a pathologist, a member of the State Patrol Crime lab and lastly Port Angeles Police Detective Steve Coyle, who interviewed Freese after the stabbing.
Kelly will be done with most of her witnesses by Thursday, she said.
The witness list includes Howard “Scooter” Chapman, a neighbor of Boze’s.
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Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
