White couple accused of murder, hate crime in death of Vancouver 19-year-old go on trial in Portland

In pretrial hearings, the prosecution played surveillance video that captured a seconds-long chase. It shows the Jeep doing a 270-degree turn to follow Bruce, the Jeep driving onto the sidewalk as Bruce sprints out of the street and Bruce running out of camera view an instant before he was struck. Bruce died of a traumatic brain injury three days later in the hospital on Aug. 13, 2016.

A grand jury indicted both Courtier and Hunt on charges of murder, hit-and-run driving and intimidation. Intimidation is considered a hate crime under state law.

Hunt is accused of those crimes under the theory that she aided and abetted Courtier.

The trial is scheduled to last up to three weeks in the courtroom of Multnomah County Circuit Judge Jerry Hodson. Hunt has asked for the judge to rule on her case. Courtier has asked for a jury to decide.

Jury selection began Monday and is expected to stretch through Wednesday, before lawyers make opening statements and start to call witnesses on Thursday.

Court papers offer little indication of Hunt’s defense, but it’s likely her attorney, Jason Steen, will argue that Courtier was the violent one and that Hunt shouldn’t be held responsible for Bruce’s death.

Courtier’s attorneys have indicated they could rely on several defenses.

They might claim “self-defense,” that Bruce was the aggressor and Courtier fought to save his own life. They also might argue “diminished capacity,” that Courtier has a mental disease that prevented him from fully understanding the gravity of his crimes and that he should go to the state psychiatric hospital and not prison.

Or Courtier’s attorneys might contend that Courtier was suffering an “extreme emotional disturbance,” that he was so overcome by emotion that he can’t be convicted of murder but rather the lesser offense of first-degree manslaughter.

It’s unclear why Courtier and Bruce got into a fist fight. Police have said Bruce slammed Courtier into a 7-Eleven window, breaking it. Defense attorneys Kevin Sali and John Robb have said Bruce then pulled out what they describe as a “machete.”

Police said Bruce then walked away, and Courtier got in his Jeep and followed while Hunt was in the passenger seat.

In motions leading up to the trial, Courtier’s attorneys have lost some important legal battles.

The judge has said jurors won’t be allowed to hear about Bruce’s criminal history. The defense attorneys have said the 19-year-old had been convicted 16 times, including as a juvenile for beating a boy with a skateboard and robbing a couple of a cellphone. They planned to point to those convictions to argue that Bruce had violent tendencies and started the fight.