Murry triple-murder trial set to begin Wednesday

A jury of eight women and four men has been selected to hear the case against 31-year-old Roy H. Murry, who faces three counts of aggravated murder in connection to the deaths of his estranged wife’s family.

Murry has been in jail for more than a year after the discovery on May 26, 2015 of the bodies of Lisa Canfield, 52; her husband, Terrance “Terry” Canfield, 59, who was a Spokane firefighter; and Lisa Canfield’s son, 23-year-old John Constable.

Amanda “Mandy” Murry, who was separated from husband Roy Murry, was living in the family home at 20 E. Chattaroy Road in Colbert, and arrived there in the early morning hours to find firefighters battling a house fire and another blaze in an outbuilding.

Autopsies later found that the Canfields and Constable had been shot multiple times. The deaths of Mandy Murry’s mother, stepfather and brother were ruled homicides.

Spokane County sheriff’s detectives immediately began to focus on Roy Murry, a troubled veteran who was awarded the Bronze Star for valor while serving as a sergeant in the Iraq War. But according to court documents, the investigators don’t have witnesses who can place Murry at the scene. Nor have investigators recovered a murder weapon.

Defense attorney Tom Krzyminski said he expects the case to hinge on expert testimony from evidence obtained from the charred home. He declined further comment.

Spokane County Prosecutor Larry Haskell is personally handling the case along with Jack Driscoll, his chief criminal deputy, who often handles the most serious cases.

Haskell said the witness list has been whittled down from about 150 to 82, and Superior Court Judge John O. Cooney has set aside four to six weeks for the trial.

“I would like to see it done before then,” Haskell said. “But we are not going to rush anything.”

Attorneys took an entire week to select a jury. Cooney also empaneled four women and a man as alternates, who would step in if any of the original 12 jurors cannot continue on the case.