CRIME WATCH FOLLOWUP: Man charged in Gatewood child-grab case found not guilty in jury trial
A two-week trial in King County Superior Court ended Tuesday with a jury finding 22-year-old Cristien X. Bugge-Marcum not guilty. He was charged last April with attempted second-degree kidnapping after an 8-year-old girl reported a man grabbed her and, prosecutors said, “tried to drag her away” near 36th SW and SW Othello. He was arrested the day after the reported incident, alleged to be the person seen on home security video walking in the area close to the same time. The reported incident was not seen on video and the only two witnesses were reported to be the eight-year-old victim and her nine-year-old friend. According to a court document prepared for trial, the defense said that when shown the surveillance video, the two children said that wasn’t the same man. Court files have no details of the trial itself aside from verifying the jury’s not-guilty verdict on Tuesday in Superior Court Judge Tenaya Scheinman‘s courtroom. The judge subsequently issued an order to release Bugge-Marcum from the King County Jail, where he had been held since his arrest six months ago.
