Joseph McEnroe, who killed six members of his girlfriend’s family in a 2007 Christmas Eve shooting spree in Carnation, is appealing his conviction for six counts of aggravated murder.
Last Wednesday, McEnroe was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The jury in McEnroe's aggravated first-degree murder case, which took nearly eight years to complete, could not agree on the death penalty. As a result, they decided on life in prison for McEnroe.
The six victims in the Carnation killing were Wayne and Judy Anderson, Scott and Erica Anderson, and their two young children, 5-year-old Olivia and 3-year-old Nathan. Those are all relatives of Michele Anderson, McEnroe's girlfriend.
McEnroe had 30 days to appeal and filed five days later.
The costs for the prosecutor's office in the cases against McEnroe and Michele Anderson totaled $1,231,000 through April. They began work on the case shortly after the victims were found on Dec. 26, 2007.
That total does not include costs for King County Sheriff's investigators or the state crime lab. The cost to defend Joseph McEnroe reached 4.4 million in March.
Jury selection for Michele Anderson's murder trial starts in September. Her trial begins in January of 2016. McEnroe claimed he was willing to plead guilty and save the family from going through the pain of a trial as long as the death penalty was taken off the table.
If McEnroe does get a new trial, the prosecution can go after the death penalty again.