Murder trial begins for Denver man accused of killing 3 members of his family, including 11-year-old granddaughter

Within the span of simply two minutes, a 9-year-old Denver boy misplaced his total instant household.

His mother and pa, Althea and Joseph McDaniels, lay lifeless on the primary flooring of their Bear Valley dwelling. His 11-year-old sister, Christine, was lifeless upstairs with gunshot wounds to the pinnacle.

The household was slated to maneuver to Mississippi shortly to be nearer to family. As a substitute, based on police and prosecutors, Bustaman Kartabrata tricked the household — his household — into letting him into the home on Could 23, 2019, and opened hearth on his stepson, his stepson’s spouse and his granddaughter.

“As a substitute they have been brutally murdered, shot again and again and again and again,” prosecutor Ashley Beck stated Wednesday in opening statements in Kartrabrata’s trial.

After practically three years of delay, Kartabrata’s trial started Tuesday in Denver District Court docket, the place he faces three first-degree homicide expenses in reference to the deaths of the McDaniels. If convicted of the homicide expenses, Kartabrata, 62, might be sentenced to life in jail.

Prosecutors outlined their proof Wednesday morning.

They’ve eyewitness testimony from the 9-year-old boy who survived by fleeing the house when gunfire broke out and operating to a neighbor’s condo for assist. The boy in a police interview recognized Kartabrata because the shooter and stated Kartabrata was married to his grandmother, based on Kartabrata’s arrest affidavit. The boy, now 12, is predicted to testify within the trial.

Investigators additionally collected safety footage from a neighbor’s home that confirmed Kartabrata go into the McDaniels’ home together with his spouse and are available out a short while later. Video confirmed Kartabrata stroll again into the McDaniels’ home at roughly 9:29 that evening and stroll out about two minutes later. The video additionally confirmed a boy flee the home, sprinting down the driveway, whereas Kartabrata was inside

Beck stated Kartabrata returned to the home and stated his spouse had left her purse inside. When the McDaniels let him inside, he opened hearth with a handgun fitted with a silencer, Beck informed the jury.

When police tracked Kartabrata down at his dwelling just a few hours later, they discovered six suitcases packed within the entrance room and smaller baggage that contained $30,000 in money and passports for Kartabrata and his spouse, who was Joseph McDaniels’ mom, Beck stated.

However prosecutors don’t have one factor: an alleged motive.

“The proof will lay out a really clear image of a person who got here to the McDaniels’ household dwelling with a gun, a silencer and a ruse to brutally homicide with no obvious motive,” Beck stated.

Kartabrata’s protection attorneys didn’t supply any contradictory proof of their temporary opening assertion however urged the jury to not let sympathy or bias sway their decision-making.

“I need you to take heed to the proof with an open and skeptical thoughts,” public defender Sarah Welton-Mitchell stated.

The trial was delayed repeatedly as Kartabrata waited for a sanity examination after he entered a plea of not responsible by cause of madness. The take a look at finally discovered he was sane on the time of the alleged crime.

The trial is predicted to final per week.