BY ANDREW WALTERS SVN REPORTER awalters@svnmail.com
Opening arguments are set to begin today in the first-degree murder trial of a Sterling man charged with killing a Rock Falls man.
Jurors were chosen Tuesday.
Paul Bash, 20, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the death of 21-year-old Ryne Thomas, who was shot once in the chest in the 700 block of 11th Avenue in Rock Falls on Aug. 16, 2006. Witnesses said the shooter was in a car that left the scene.
Defendants often are charged with multiple counts of the same crime, but with different elements, to give jurors leeway in determining guilt.
Also charged in the shooting is Nathaniel Galvan, 23, of Sterling, who faces three counts of murder. Witnesses say he was in the car with Bash.
Galvan has been subpoenaed as a witness in the Bash trial. Galvan's pretrial hearing is set for 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 1.
The two fled to Mexico but were apprehended by authorities at the border in Mexicali, Mexico, on warrants for murder and federal warrants for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. They were turned over to federal officers in California on Sept. 30.
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