Lawyer Testifies He Saw Suspect Killing Coin Dealer

Attorney D. Scott Blair related a real-life Halloween horror that began with screams coming through thin walls between his office and the shop next door.

Blair, who usually represents clients in personal injury and criminal defense cases, yesterday turned witness to tell a King County jury how he sought out an alleged killer, stared at him and then memorized the license number of the getaway van last Oct. 31 in the Shoreline area.

Blair was nervous as he identified a photograph of the scene where coin dealer Dan McCleary, 40, died of multiple stab wounds. Blair said he saw through mirrored glass some of the wounds being inflicted on McClearly after going to the shop.

The man accused of being the knife wielder is Steven Richard Matthews, 34.

Matthews, of Woodinville, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the killing of McCleary, who was owner of the West Coast Gold and Silver Exchange, 16300 Aurora Ave. N.

Defense attorney Anthony Savage said his client was not near the coin shop and that prosecutors have the wrong man.

Savage said on the day of the murder Matthews drove his wife to her job on the Eastside, then jogged at Lake Sammamish and returned to pick her up.

Savage said Matthews and his wife will testify in the case, which is being heard before Superior Court Judge Anthony Wartnik.

Matthews did visit the coin shop the day before the murder, Savage told jurors, but he said there was no longstanding connection between the two men.

Deputy Prosecutor Cheryl Carey said there is no solid motive for the homicide. She told the court there was $20,000 to $30,000 worth of gold in McCleary's office and none of it was taken.

But Matthews knew that he had been seen during the stabbings, Carey said.

She credited a baby-sitter for the Matthews' children with disputing when Matthews returned home. Carey said Matthews went home after the slaying, took a long shower and then washed the driver side of his van's interior.

Carey said Matthews was stabbed 12 times with a kitchen-type knife.

Blair said when he heard the screams he first went next door to see what was going on, ran out to tell his colleague to call 911, then returned to see the killer stabbing McCleary.

At one point Blair called out to the killer ``I've got you,'' he testified.

``I wanted to tell him I had his face burned into my memory - and his eyes,'' Blair told co-Prosecutor Dan Raz.

``Quite frankly, I was very mad,'' Blair said. ``I wanted to get this guy's face.''

Matthews turned himself in to police when he heard the owner of the van was being sought.