This is my memoir of serving on a jury in King County, Washington, in June and July 2026. I'm not attempting to make any particular points; I wrote it mostly as a record of an interesting experience.

The Crime

This was a murder case. The victim, a Black man named Greg Gibson, was found dead in his apartment in SeaTac on the afternoon of Friday, May 21, 2021. He was lying on his face on the living room floor with the power cable of his Comcast cable box/router looped twice around his neck, and tied in two knots. An entertainment center was shattered next to him, the TV laying flat on top of it, undamaged. The coaxial cable was still plugged into the wall, and the cable from the cable box was unplugged from the TV. The cable box itself lay against Gibson’s hip. The power cord had been pulled from the wall without bending or damaging the plug blades. 

There was very little actual sign of struggle beyond the entertainment center. A desk lamp, still on, lay on the floor near a sectional couch; it may have been sitting on a plastic bin used as an end table, or on an ottoman in front of the couch. The rest of the small apartment was in good order.

Gibson was found by his lifelong friend, who we’ll call Morris, as he’s still alive and not accused of any crime. Morris and the woman accompanying him had entered the apartment when Gibson didn’t respond to a call or knock (though his car was there) and called 911. The door was not locked, which was apparently unusual.

Responding firefighters and SeaTac police (actually King County Sheriff’s Deputies; SeaTac contracts with KCSO for police services) confirmed that Gibson was dead. Detectives were called. Photographs were taken of the crime scene. 

Morris, as the person who called 911, was questioned by deputies. He was not very cooperative, as he had not had good interactions with the police in the past. He had taken the keyring with the keys to the apartment and Gibson’s car, as Gibson had told him to be sure his car and belongings could get back to his family in the Midwest. By the end of the evening, he gave the keys to the police.

Morris told the police Gibson was a fentanyl dealer and addict. It wasn’t unusual for him to have fentanyl pills and cash, which he often hid in his socks, underwear, and behind light switch and power plug panels.

The King County Medical Examiner arrived in the evening, the first to touch Gibson’s body other than to feel for a pulse. They turned the body over; both arms were underneath the body. The victim’s left hand was reaching toward the ligature around his neck. Glass and plastic were pressed into the skin of his arms but did not pierce the skin. There was no blood.

The ME found lividity (blood pooling on the lower part of the body) that was “set,” meaning the blood had pooled and was not going to be pulled by gravity toward the back when the body was rolled over, and that rigor mortis was partly set – that is, the body was stiff, but not completely stiff. The liver temperature was somewhere around 86° F. Dr. Mazrum, the assistant ME, gave the opinion that Gibson had been dead between 12 and 24 hours. 

Leaving the ligature around the neck, the body was bagged and transported to the ME’s office at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

During this time, detectives searched the apartment and did not find a cell phone, cash, or a quantity of drugs. They found a total of four blue pills, fentanyl pills known as M30s. Gibson’s state ID card and Chime Visa debit card were found in the pocket of a jacket in the hall closet. These were photographed but not taken into evidence.

Also found were an HP laptop in the living room, a Canon DSLR camera with a microphone on it and a second lens nearby, a quantity of marijuana, cigarettes, and drug paraphernalia. The paraphernalia consisted of cigarette lighters, the emptied tubes from Bic pens, and a number of rolls of aluminum foil. According to Morris, these were used to smoke the fentanyl pills: place the pill in a piece of foil, hold the lighter underneath, and snort the fumes with the tube, known as a “tooter.”

Also found was a check from Google. Gibson had two YouTube channels, which were starting to bring in some money. The DSLR camera with mic and the laptop were part of his equipment for filming his videos.

Missing from the scene were Gibson’s phone and wallet. A day or two after the discovery of Gibson’s body, Morris suggested the police check the apartment’s dumpster. A detective checked all of the complex’s garbage without success; the phone and wallet were never found.

According to Morris, Gibson had been a fentanyl user and dealer for many years. He did business in his apartment, kept the door locked, and only admitted people he knew or was expecting. Sometimes people just came, bought, and left, sometimes people would stay a while, smoking fentanyl and watching TV.

The associate medical examiner conducted the autopsy on Monday, May 24. He found that Gibson died by strangulation; enough force was applied that his hyloid bone, a bone deep in the neck, had fractured (not fatal in itself, but also requiring a lot of force). In strangulation, a victim can become unconscious in as little as ten seconds, but death takes up to four minutes.

During the autopsy, the ligature was cut from Gibson’s neck and placed in an evidence bag. The cord was tight, actually making a furrow in his neck.

The ligature, as well as the cable box, TV, and swabs from the apartment’s doorknobs (inside and outside) were sent to the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab for DNA testing. 

At this point, I should make it clear that there were no witnesses to the crime. The apartments were canvassed by the police, and no one saw anything. The apartment’s security cameras were off. The camera from an elementary school and private home across the street from the apartment complex gave no usable information. There were no red light cameras in the area. The evidence in the case was purely circumstantial; there was no direct evidence at all.

The forensic scientist at the crime lab found four DNA samples on the ligature. All four were tied to Gibson and Kunigk, whose DNA was present in a DNA database. Their DNA was found in three separate spots on the cable, including the two knots in the cable. Their DNA and a third contributor’s DNA were found on the electrical plug. The third sample was not identified. Gibson and Kunigk’s DNA were also found on the doorknobs. The cable box and TV were never tested, as it was agreed by the crime lab and the police they would probably not provide more data.

The police also started looking at cell phone records. They identified two phone numbers associated with Gibson, and one associated with Kunigk, who lived in University Place, a city near Tacoma, about 23 miles south. Investigation found instances of phone contact between Gibson and Kunigk, a white tree service worker. Various records of phone calls or texts between them, as well as locating Kunigk’s phone in both University Place and close to Gibson’s apartment in SeaTac, were found.

The last person known to see Gibson alive was his friend Morris, early on the evening of May 20. The last phone call received on Gibson’s phone was at about 10:40 pm on the evening of May 20, from Kunigk. The phone and DNA investigations took quite a bit of time.

After the ME took the body and the apartment search was complete, the apartment was released to Gibson’s family (he had an ex-wife and their daughters living nearby). An ex-girlfriend, who lived in Tacoma, took the debit card and started using it near her home to help pay for Gibson’s final expenses, taking cash out at 7-11 and Safeway stores. She eventually sent the card and ID to his family in the Midwest.

The Arrest

The police took their time developing a case against Kunigk. In September 2021, Kunigk’s landlord in University Place died, and he had to find somewhere new to live. He moved to a motel in Des Moines, a couple of miles from Gibson’s apartment in SeaTac. Police were able to find some employment records for him, surveilled him at a tree-trimming job, and followed him home. He was arrested in February 2022 at the hotel in Des Moines by detectives and the KCSO “Tac30” SWAT team. Although he was read his rights, he was apparently not told why he was being arrested. 

He was taken to the SeaTac police station and questioned by the lead detective, Det. Fowler, and Det. Gurwitch. The interview was recorded on video. It was very low-key. Kunigk told of his own off-and-on fentanyl addiction, and that he bought from Gibson because he was cheaper than his local dealers (M30s in Tacoma were around $8 a pill, Gibson was selling for $6; today they go for about $1). They weren’t friends; Kunigk would buy, and sometimes hang out for a few minutes and smoke with Gibson. Gibson sometimes fronted him a few pills but expected to be paid back before Kunigk could get more from him. Kunigk always called Gibson before going to buy.

At no point in the video shown did the detectives accuse Kunigk of killing Gibson; Kunigk appeared to be surprised when they told him Gibson was dead. He said Gibson had stopped answering his calls (in fact, there were no more calls attempted from Kunigk to Gibson after the final call the evening of May 20). He also claimed to have no knowledge of SeaTac, though he was now almost living there; he knew the directions to Gibson’s apartment, but nothing else.

The only time he got upset was when detectives accused him of using the bank card near his home in Tacoma; he was adamant that if the cops had pictures of someone using the card, he wasn’t in them. The police were unaware at this time that Gibson’s ex-girlfriend had taken the card and used it in the weeks after his death, and by then it was too late to get any video records.

The interrogation video ended abruptly after the exchange about the use of the bank card.

Why they never followed up about the card wasn’t answered, except that there were apparently some delays in getting bank records. Still, they had seen and photographed the card, but had left it in the jacket; if they knew it was being used, they should have known it was the card they’d seen, and that Kunigk hadn’t taken it.

The Trial

We found out, due to a slip during the ME’s testimony, that this was a retrial. We were given no information about the first trial, whether it was a hung jury or other sort of mistrial. 

The trial lasted almost a month and a half; several of our trial weeks were short, only two or three days out of the usual four, as King County courts have motions and other procedural matters on Fridays. We were also delayed a week when one of the jurors came down with COVID.

Jury selection was over Zoom. There were fifteen jurors selected, three of whom were to be alternates. One juror was excused (reason unknown) about three weeks into the trial. The final 12 were seven men and five women. We ranged in age from early 20s to early 70s, with the average age probably in the 40s. There was one black, two Hispanic, one Indian (born in the US, I think, as he had no accent). One of the people had some exposure to handling DNA in a lab, one was a nurse with clinical experience administering fentanyl, and a couple had experience with family being involved with fentanyl.

Kunigk was charged on three counts: Murder, either in the first degree with premediation, or second degree with intent to kill; felony murder in association with robbery; and felony murder resulting from 2nd degree assault. The two possibilities in the first count meant we all had to agree that murder had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but if we couldn’t agree that premeditiation had taken place, we could find him guilty of 2nd degree murder. 

We ended up splitting on premeditiation. Most of us thought premeditation was likely, but two didn’t, and we just couldn’t find any way to change anyone’s mind. But we all agreed he was guilty of murder, so it was easy to choose guilt in the 2nd degree. We couldn’t find any reason to find him guilty of murder in association with robbery (they apparently thought he took the phone and any cash or drugs he found, but they really didn’t address that in any of the evidence, and the charge was only for the phone and cash). Being guilty of murder in association with assault was, frankly, a slam-dunk – he had to assault Gibson to murder him.

We ended up ignoring all the evidence surrounding time of death. The state really wanted us to look at what the ME said about TOD, and the defense tried to convince us that evidence pointed to a later TOD that would have gotten Kunigk off the hook, but the ME was adamant that there is really no firm science behind TOD. It’s a bunch of averages, rules of thumb, and educated guesses. There is simply no way to scientifically establish TOD firmly (and I got SO SICK of the prosecutor asking if something is scientifically possible or provable). Besides that, the ME didn’t remember saying at the crime scene that Gibson had been dead 12-24 hours, and claims he would have been wrong to say that.

Frankly, the ME’s testimony was a bit of a mess. He even came in days after his main testimony and took about ten minutes on the stand to try to clear up misstatements from his earlier testimony, which left me more confused than ever.

Both sides fell heavily upon the DNA evidence. The defense started talking about it in opening arguments, telling us the state had seen DNA belonging to Kunigk and stopped looking for other possibilities right there. They made a big effort to show that Kunigk’s DNA could have been placed by transfer: that is, he touched something, leaving DNA, and someone else touched the same thing, picking up Kunigk’s DNA, then touched the cord. If the intermediate toucher had been wearing gloves (not leaving any of their DNA), that could certainly happen.

During deliberations, this led us down a rabbit hole of alternate theories of how Gibson was killed. His ex-girlfriend testified to a time they were robbed by masked men at gunpoint, by someone Gibson thought he knew. This made him quite careful for his own safety. But it also made us entertain the idea that after Kunigk came and went the night of May 20-21, Gibson let someone else in, who somehow held him at bay while they put on gloves and strangled him, transferring Kunigk’s DNA at the same time. But then we thought if someone came to kill Gibson, why mess up the room and make an improvised ligature from the power cord? If you’re going to put on gloves to prevent getting your DNA on stuff, why would you not just bring a gun (like the earlier robbers did)? So we ended up throwing that idea out. It was just too far-fetched. 

It also spoke against premeditation by Kunigk. The state defined premeditation as planning, thought, reflection that can happen very quickly, literally within a moment. Jury members who agreed with that noted that Kunigk had plenty of time to stop the act of killing Gibson, so he had to have time to think about and reflect upon what he was doing.

From testimony about DNA we learned that DNA can live on a surface for a long time, that there’s no way to tell who actually placed a DNA sample on a surface or how it was placed there, that you don’t need much DNA to make a match, and that everyone is shedding DNA all the time, but sometimes more than other times. 

And from cell phone testimony, we learned that phone records can tell you who called who, and whether a call connected or didn’t, which cell towers a call originated from and which it was connected from, and what direction from a cell tower a call originated or was picked up. Text messages give no information like that. Data connections also give origin and tower information, but there’s no way to tell what information a data connection contains, or whether it was originated by the cell phone user (opening a YouTube connection, for example) or by the cell phone (fetching email, for example). And a phone’s location can be followed in real time; it’s called “pinging,” and shows a phone as it moves from tower to tower. Like other phone records, pinging requires a warrant.

Though phone data got quite detailed and confusing, it helped us see how often Kunigk and Gibson were in contact with each other and that there was no attempt at contact between them after Gibson’s death (well, duh). It also tells us that sometime after midnight the day Gibson’s body was found, his phone traveled south briefly. Could it be that Gibson was still alive at this time, and took a quick trip to the liquor store? Or does it tell us that Kunigk took Gibson’s phone and forgot to turn it off until he was a few blocks away, and then spent some months getting his fixes from the pills he stole, rather than having to buy any? Those things are no doubt the basis for the murder while committing robbery charge, but there was too much reasonable doubt to support a guilty verdict there.

My favorite part of the trial was the testimony of Det. Fowler, the lead detective on the case. He was at the counsel table with the prosecutor the whole time. When I asked him why after the trial, he said it was just to help the prosecutor with facts in evidence. As expected, Fowler didn’t ask any questions of witnesses.

When he testified, I liked and respected him immediately. He knew what he was talking about, and he was clear and assured. And when the lead defense attorney cross-examined him, they were like two bulls knocking their heads together. She was tough; he was tough. They were both completely professional and polite, but there were plenty of sparks. (I told her after the trial that if I needed a public defender, I wanted her. She wasn’t too happy, since she’d just lost the case, but I wanted her to know she had done an excellent job even though she hadn’t convinced us of Kunigk’s innocence.)

This was the third time I’ve served on a jury. The first was a burglary trial; the case was “open and shut,” and we took no time at all determining the accused were guilty. The second trial was a domestic violence trial, but it ended in a mistrial before the prosecution finished presenting its case.

During opening arguments, the defense reminded us that it was up to the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Kunigk had killed Gibson, and that the defense wasn’t required to do anything at all. In fact, the defense had only (if I remember correctly) two witnesses, who because of scheduling conflicts testified in the midst of the prosecution’s case. Most of the defense was presented during cross-examination of the state’s witnesses. Kunigk never took the stand. From my experience in the burglary trial, this was a wise decision, as a defendant can bury themselves by their own testimony.

This was my first experience with actual jury deliberation. We looked at exhibits, especially crime scene photos, photos from the autopsy, and the police’s interrogation of Kunigk. We discussed the TOD mess, possible motives, and attempted to reconstruct the events surrounding Gibson’s death. Even those of us who came into the jury room thinking Kunigk was innocent agreed that it would be tough to overcome the DNA evidence, which was (as the defense had warned us) the state’s primary reason to bring charges against Kunigk. Though there were lapses in the state’s case, the lack of reasonable exceptions to the evidence in the end drew us toward guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

There were some comments in the jury room about the emotional difficulty of finding Kunigk guilty of murder. More than anything, jurors wanted to talk through the process of deciding whether premeditation was proven, or whether murder was proven beyond reasonable doubt.