MURDER TRIAL WILL SHOW PORT ANGELES' SEAMY SIDE, JURY WARNED

PORT ANGELES -- A panel of middle-aged jurors Monday entered Port
Angeles' shadow world of homelessness, methamphetamine and,
ultimately, a 15-year-old girl's slaying.

They listened as Clallam County Prosecutor Deb Kelly outlined the
state's case against Robert Gene Covarrubias, accused of murdering
Melissa Leigh Carter.

Her nude body was found Dec. 26, 2004, in a vine-shrouded hollow
above the Waterfront Trail, about 600 feet east of the Red Lion Hotel.

Kelly and public defender Harry Gasnick made opening statements in
the Clallam County Superior Court of Judge George Wood.

Stalking Suggested

Kelly suggested a series of events that had Covarrubias stalking
Carter from a drug party in the Chinook Motel, forcing her to have
oral sex, and killing her. Forensic experts found the defendant's
sperm in her throat. Her corpse bore scratches and bruises.

But Gasnick told jurors that police leaped to the conclusion that
Covarrubias had killed Carter.

He said the defense would throw into question not only who killed her
but how she was killed, where, when and why.

Testimony from as many as 57 witnesses is expected to last at least
two weeks. Many of them will be drug dealers, methamphetamine users
and underage drinkers.

"This kind of thing pervades the whole case," Kelly told the jury.

"You're going to be drawn into a world you may not have known existed
- -- probably hoped you did not -- and you will be surprised," said
Gasnick, who with co-counsel Ralph Anderson is defending Covarrubias.