Jury Selection Begins in Trial of David Lucas, Accused of Killing 6

Jury selection began Monday in the trial of David Allen Lucas, who is charged with killing six people, four of whom lived in East San Diego County.

About 100 potential jurors crowded into a large courtroom in U. S. District Court, where jury selection started temporarily because a large courtroom was needed.

Superior Court Judge Laura Hammes told the jurors that the case could last 10 months. Most of the potential jurors said they could not sit that long and pleaded hardship, but about two dozen said they could be available that long.

The case has proceeded slowly since Lucas’ arrest Dec. 16, 1984, after a tip and investigation. Pretrial motions began in January, 1986.

Faces Death Penalty

Lucas, 33, a former carpet cleaner from Spring Valley, faces the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder with special-circumstances allegations. He is being held at County Jail without bail.

The killing of Anne Swanke, 22, of San Carlos, an honor student at the University of San Diego, garnered the most publicity and was the last in the series. She disappeared Nov. 20, 1984. Her car was found abandoned at a La Mesa intersection at about 1:45 a.m.

As with the other five victims, Swanke’s throat had been slashed. Her body was found in a remote area of Spring Valley.

Lucas is also charged with killing Rhonda Strang, 24, and the 3-year-old girl she was baby-sitting, Amber Fisher, in her Lakeside home Oct. 23, 1984.

Lucas was charged in 1985 with the May 4, 1979, slayings of Suzanne Jacobs, 31, and her son, Colin, 3, that previously had been charged against a Kentucky man, Johnny Massingale, 33.

Prosecutors say a note found in Jacobs’ Normal Heights home, with the words “Love Insurance,” matches Lucas’ handwriting. Murder charges were dismissed against Massingale several months after Lucas was arrested.

Lucas was also accused of killing real-estate saleswoman Gayle Garcia, 29, on Dec. 8, 1981, in a vacant Spring Valley home she was showing to a prospective buyer.

Key Eyewitness

The key witness in the trial will be Jodie Santiago Robertson, 33, of Seattle. She has identified Lucas as the man who slit her throat June 9, 1984, after kidnaping her from an El Cajon restaurant.

One of Lucas’ five lawyers, Steve Feldman, said he is looking for jurors who will be “fair minded.”

When asked about the long delays in the Lucas trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. George Clarke said Lucas’ counsel has “covered every conceivable avenue of defense of their client.”

A change of venue motion to move the trial out of the county was denied several years ago.

“It’s my opinion that publicity and community awareness have dropped off dramatically in the last four years,” said Clarke.

“It has not been news for a long time.”

In a July, 1985, public opinion poll commissioned by the defense, 60% of respondents said they believed Lucas was guilty of murdering Swanke.

Originally, Lucas faced two trials. The charges involving the Swanke, Strang and Fisher killings and the attempted murder of Santiago were to have been one trial. Lucas would have faced charges involving the Jacobs and Garcia killings in a second trial.

However, Hammes ruled that the charges be consolidated into one trial.