Crime & Courts

Trial for teen charged in Grunwald killing starts Monday in Palmer

PALMER — The trial for the first of David Grunwald's accused killers starts Monday, a year and a half after the 16-year-old was slain in woods near the Knik River.

Jury selection begins Monday in Palmer Superior Court for the trial of Erick Almandinger, now 18, whose December 2016 confession revealed the first details of the grim killing.

Grunwald went missing in November 2016. His torched Ford Bronco was found the next day at the base of the Talkeetna Mountains, but his body wasn't located for three weeks.

Almandinger told investigators Grunwald came over to drink and smoke marijuana but was pistol-whipped by a group of teens in a trailer and then driven in the Bronco to a remote spot near the river, where he was shot once.

Three suspects besides Almandinger charged in Grunwald's death face separate trials starting later this year. A fourth is scheduled to be sentenced on evidence tampering charges in August.

Almandinger faces murder and kidnapping charges. Brought into the courtroom in jail scrubs Thursday, he will be dressed in street clothes for the trial.

Given the publicity surrounding the case, it could take a week just to seat a jury.

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Almandinger's court-appointed attorney last year filed a motion for a new venue, arguing most Mat-Su residents know too much about the crime to make a fair and impartial decision.

But Superior Court Judge Greg Heath, who has yet to rule on that motion, expects to seat a jury by next Friday, he said during a hearing Thursday afternoon. The selection process will involve questions to the entire jury as well as one-on-one sessions with attorneys for both sides.

Heath has already ruled that he will allow the jury to see photos of Grunwald's body.

He denied Almandinger's motion to dismiss a grand jury indictment, filed by court-appointed attorney Jon Iannaccone on grounds that gang-related evidence prejudiced the jury.

Heath partially granted another motion filed by Iannaccone to bar evidence of Almandinger's "prior bad acts" including profane and violent rap lyrics, trying to sell his father's gun, an apparent desire to be accepted as a member of the Crips gang, and statements he and other defendants spent time the summer before the killing crashing at a flophouse near Wasilla.

In his ruling, the judge precludes the state from introducing the rap lyrics and information about Almandinger's "failed attempt to sell his father's guns."

The trial is expected to last three to four weeks.

Thursday's hearing was quiet but somber. Only two reporters and Grunwald's parents, Ben and Edie, attended.

"I knew this would be hard," Edie Grunwald said, just before it started. "I didn't think it would be this hard."

Zaz Hollander

Zaz Hollander is a veteran journalist based in the Mat-Su and is currently an ADN local news editor and reporter. She covers breaking news, the Mat-Su region, aviation and general assignments. Contact her at zhollander@adn.com.

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