The trial for a Utah man accused of killing his wife on a cruise ship in Juneau in 2017 has been pushed back again, in part because the defendant’s attorneys want to further evaluate his mental state.
Attorneys for Kenneth Manzanares asked that the trial be moved from Nov. 5, 2018 to May 19, 2019, and the prosecution agreed, according to court documents. Manzanares is accused of murder in the death of his wife Kristy on a cruise ship in Juneau on July 25, 2017.
In making the motion, Manzanares’ attorneys said discovery in this case is “voluminous and ongoing,” and need more time to make sure they have everything they need.
In the motion, the defense attorneys also said they want more time to evaluate Manzanares’ mental history.
“Mr. Manzanares’ mental state at the time is likely a critical fact for either a resolution or a trial,” attorneys wrote in the motion, “and the defense is ethically and legally obligated to conduct its own investigation into their client’s background for possible mental defenses.”
In researching this, the attorneys wrote, they are working with experts from outside Alaska, which they wrote is a time-consuming process.
At a hearing Thursday, Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess said he will consult his schedule for an exact start date in mid-May 2019 that works, but that it will likely be either Monday, May 13 or Monday, May 20.
Federal Defender Rich Curtner, Assistant Federal Defender Jamie McGrady and Appointed Capital Counsel Mark Larrañaga are listed on the motion as representing Manzanares in the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Schmidt is prosecuting the case.
Manzanares was indicted in August 2017 and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. The Alaska U.S. attorney’s office filed a motion in November 2017 stating it will not seek the death penalty in the case. Alaska does not have the death penalty, but the death took place in U.S. waters, making it a federal case, where capital punishment is legal. The cruise ship, the Emerald Princess, was about seven miles away from Forrester Island, the closest piece of land.
This is the second time the trial has been pushed back. In November 2017, McGrady and Schmidt agreed there was too much discovery in the case to make the original trial date of April 23, 2018. They said at the time there were 72 audio files, eight video files, 541 photographs and nearly 2,000 pages of notes provided at that point. McGrady estimated at the time that the trial will take four weeks, and at Thursday’s hearing Schmidt agreed with that estimate.
In the probable cause affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Michael L. Watson, security and medical personnel responded to reports of a conflict in cabin D726 at 9:03 p.m. July 25, 2017. When they arrived, they found Kristy Manzanares with a severe head wound and blood on multiple surfaces in the room, according to the document. Kenneth was there as well, with blood on his hands and clothing, the affidavit alleges.
Kristy, 39, was pronounced dead at 9:20 p.m. and security personnel put Kenneth in handcuffs and secured him in the adjoining cabin, according to the document. One witness, referred to as D.H. in the affidavit, said he arrived in the room to find Manzanares on the floor covered in blood. The witness asked what happened, to which Manzanares replied, “She would not stop laughing at me.”
D.H. also said he witnessed Manzanares grab his wife’s body and drag her toward the balcony in the cabin. D.H. then grabbed Kristy’s ankles and pulled her back. Later, when Manzanares was being taken into custody, he blurted out, “My life is over.”
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• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
