Trial begins for man accused of killing Seattle officer

SEATTLE (AP) - A man accused of killing a Seattle police officer in an ambush on Halloween in 2009 was angry about what he saw as an increasing number of police-brutality cases, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.

Opening statements began Tuesday in the trial Christopher Monfort, who authorities say was conducting a one-man war on police.

He's charged with aggravated murder and attempted murder in the shooting, and also arson for a fire that damaged police vehicles at a city maintenance yard.

Monfort has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty if he's convicted, even though Gov. Jay Inslee has ordered a moratorium on executions as long as he is governor.

Monfort is accused of shooting Officer Tim Brenton and Officer Britt Sweeney as they sat in a patrol car. Sweeney survived.

King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor John Castleton said in court Tuesday that Monfort left behind a warning when he set off pipe bombs at the maintenance yard Oct. 22, 2009 - a national day of protest against police violence.

Castleton told jurors an American flag attached to a large knife was stuck in the roof of a new patrol car and a flier was attached, The Seattle Times reported (http://bit.ly/15sKUK9 ).

Castleton read the flier to the jury, and when he got to the part about the American flag - "our colors are the red, white and blue; our flag is the Stars and Stripes" - Monfort yelled, "It's right there," and pointed to the flag behind the judge's bench.

Castleton said Brenton and Sweeney were attacked "for one reason only - because they wore the badge."

Monfort was wounded by officers about a week later during his arrest in Tukwila. He is paralyzed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair.

A search of his apartment and storage area turned up guns, bombs and bomb-making materials, authorities said.