Retrial in second “Hammer Killer” case starts

The retrial of Alex Ewing in a nearly 40-year-old Lakewood murder case got underway Wednesday with a familiar opening statement from the prosecution and requests by the defense for a second mistrial and, after that failed, a change of venue.

District Judge Tamara Russell rejected that, too, after testimony began in the second Jefferson County trial of Ewing, who is accused of the murder and sexual assault of Patricia Smith on Jan. 10, 1984, during a string of brutal attacks over a 12-day span by the so-called “Hammer Killer.”

An Arapahoe County jury last summer convicted Ewing of murdering three members of an Aurora family during those attacks, and his October trial on charges he killed Smith ended in a mistrial when his attorneys requested their client’s mental competency be evaluated. That mental health delay was resolved late last year, according to court records.

For the second trial, Chief Deputy District Attorney Katharine Decker stuck to a similar argument, emphasizing the importance of “semen and similarities” in her opening statement Wednesday. She focused on the DNA evidence connecting Ewing to semen found on Smith’s body and in her living room.

The DNA was matched to Ewing while he was serving a 40-year sentence in Nevada for attempted murder after beating a couple with an ax handle in August 1984.

“After nearly 40 years, they have a match,” Decker told the jury.

Decker also spent significant portions of her opening statement reviewing the murders of Melissa, Debra and Bruce Bennett in Aurora on Jan. 16, 1984, for which Ewing was sentenced to three life terms, drawing similarities between the Bennett and Smith cases.

Both attacks took place at homes where garage doors had been left open and both Melissa Bennett and Smith were killed with hammer blows to the head, then sexually assaulted.

The defense argued that while the semen DNA may have been matched to Ewing, the so-called touch DNA from “critical items” in the case excluded Ewing as a suspect. The DNA found on the handle of the hammer that killed Smith, as well as the evidence on her clothing, did not match Ewing, public defender Katherine Powers Spengler said.

She contended that the prosecution was ignoring this evidence to reach “a quick, simple fix.”

“The prosecution needs you to think this is a simple case,” Spengler said, arguing that the state was asking jurors to ignore physical evidence that she said ruled Ewing out.

Spengler concluded the opening statement by calling on the jury to not have a “cemented mind of a quick fix” like the prosecution.

“There is no question that this case represents the tragic loss of Patricia Smith,” Spengler said, arguing that the perpetrator must be held responsible — based on the DNA on the handle of the hammer.

“And that DNA, that is not Alex Ewing’s DNA,” she said.

The prosecutor, though, noted that the lack of Ewing’s DNA on the hammer doesn’t mean he didn’t use it: He could have been wearing gloves.

Prior to the opening statements, Ewing’s defense asked for a mistrial due to statements made by dismissed potential jurors, which the defense said could have created bias among the panel. The judge denied the motion for mistrial and continued with jury selection

The defense later filed a motion requesting a change of venue, arguing Ewing wouldn’t be able to get a fair trial in Jefferson County — but the judge denied that, too.

The first witness to testify for the state was Chery Lettin, who detailed the experience of finding her mother on the day she was killed in their home.

Ewing’s trial is expected to last two to three weeks.