Man enters plea Friday in Kent murder charge

Randall Edward Connor pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge at an arraignment Friday in King County Superior Court at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

King County prosecutors have charged Connor, 28, in connection with the death of Kent resident Merianne Lorentson, 24. Lorentson, a single mother of a then-5-year-old daughter, was found March 9, 2007 stabbed to death in the living room of her East Hill apartment in the 10400 block of Kent-Kangley Road.

Connor, who once lived in SeaTac, had dated Lorentson, according to the charging papers.

Connor is slated to return to court for a May 14 hearing when a trial date is planned to be set. Attorneys also could ask for the hearing to be delayed. He remains in King County Jail in lieu of $2 million bail.

Over the past year, Kent detectives used DNA test results, cell-phone records and interviews with friends and relatives of Connor and Lorentson to build their case against Connor.

Connor was extradited from California and booked April 8 into the King County Jail. Connor was in prison in California for a parole violation on an armed-robbery conviction.

Connor, dressed in a jail jumpsuit, appeared briefly Friday before Judge Brian Gain. Defense attorney Lisa Mulligan entered the not guilty plea for Connor.

Corrections officers removed the handcuffs on Connor for a moment so he could sign the papers with his not guilty plea.

Before Connor entered the courtroom, Mulligan made a motion to the judge to disallow the media from showing Connor’s face in any video or photos because the photos might help identify Connor.

Judge Gain denied the motion and allowed photos of Connor’s face to be taken by a television cameraman and newspaper photographer.

“There’s no issue of identification of the defendant,” Gain said. “The defendant and the deceased knew each other. There’s no question about who he is, it’s a matter of whether he committed the act.”

Connor spoke only one word in the courtroom. When prosecutors asked if his name was Randall Edward Connor, he replied, “Yeah.”

Mulligan told the judge that she might have a future motion about whether the case should be held in King County Superior Court because Jerry Lorentson, the father of Merianne Lorentson, used to work as a King County prosecutor.

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