2011 Newsmaker: Big crime stories of the year: County saw 14 homicides ...
SANTA CRUZ - The big crime stories of 2011 ranged from an alleged intentional wrong-way driver on Highway 17 that killed a woman to an armed standoff with Watsonville police to the slaying of a well-liked Santa Cruz attorney.
Several of the year's high-profile homicide victims were women, and their accused killers are pending trial as the year draws to a close.
CELESTIAL CASSMAN
Celestial Summer Dove Cassman, a 35-year-old assistant city attorney for Santa Cruz, Capitola and Half Moon Bay, was vacationing on Maui on Sept. 1 with Gerald Galaway Jr. when she was killed, police said. Witnesses said they saw Galaway, 38, also of Santa Cruz, beating Cassman on the side of a highway near their rental car.
Police arrived and saw Galaway leap from a 100-foot cliff into the ocean, where he was rescued some hours later. Cassman was found dead under a nearby tree, police said. The coroner said she died of asphyxiation.
Galaway is due in court March 19. Maui prosecutor Robert Rivera said he estimates the trial could begin in mid-2012. Galaway has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, attempted sexual assault and kidnapping.