Jury seated in former Pasco police officer’s rape trial

Testimony is set to begin in the rape trial of a former Pasco police officer after a jury was seated Friday.

Richard J. Aguirre, 52, is charged in Franklin County Superior Court with third-degree rape and fourth-degree assault.

He’s accused of sexually assaulting a woman in late 2014 while he was off duty.

Defense attorney John Henry Browne of Seattle asked in June to move the trial to King County, claiming his client cannot get a fair and impartial trial in Franklin County because of “often fictional and extremely inflammatory pretrial publicity.”

That motion was denied.

Browne did not renew his request Friday, since the court was able to seat 12 jurors and two alternates.

Opening statements will be given at 9 a.m. July 11 in Courtroom 2 of the Franklin County Courthouse.

This story was originally published July 9, 2016 at 6:26 PM with the headline "Jury seated in former Pasco police officer’s rape trial."