Breaking: Julian Willis Trial Delayed Until October
Scheduled to begin today, a last-minute cancellation gives the former Kamiak High School football coach -- accused of felony sex crimes against a minor student -- another three months on the loose.
Julian Willis will remain free for the foreseeable future as his sex crimes trial is once again the subject of a last-minute delay.
His trial on three felony sex crime charges was set to begin today at Snohomish Superior Courthouse, and as of last week, everything appeared on track.
However, on Friday, a notation was added to the case record stating that Willis’ trial – scheduled for June 24, 2024 – was “canceled by an unknown party” and rescheduled for October of this year.
This is the third time Willis’ trial date has been delayed three months or more since charges were entered in October of last year. Previously:
Willis was fired May 23, 2023 —a few hours after an exclusive J425 report revealed Willis was the subject of a felony sex crimes investigation involving his contact with a 17-year-old Kamiak student.
The crimes against this particular student covered almost six months start to finish, spanning from November 2022 to late March 2023… and the tragedy is compounded by the fact that — according to charging documents — multiple players and coaches within the football program were aware of Willis’ improper behavior as early as November, 2022.
The information wouldn’t reach administrators and law enforcement until five months later.
Football Program Provides Willis with Role, Access and Lack of Oversight
Charging documents show that Willis leveraged his position and access to first groom the victim, approaching her via her volunteer role with the Kamiak football program, before eventually convincing the girl to meet him for sexual interludes.
J425 detailed what the predation was like from the victim perspective in our May 24 report:
Initially, the girl believed the man mistook her for an adult. When she told him she was actually an underage student, he reportedly replied, “I’ll keep that in mind.”
The girl later found out that far from thinking of her as an adult, the man believed she was actually younger than her actual age.
She describes an incident at a football game where he referred to her as a sophomore and was initially unconvinced when she informed him she was a senior.
In response, he allegedly told her that she “didn’t look like a senior” before complimenting her on her appearance.
Still, the girl said she assumed his behavior was innocent: he was an adult; and an adult wouldn’t attempt a physical relationship with a student.
The victim told detectives that he began to give her "looks" and size her up during football games, as if he was "curious" and wanted to get to know her "sexually."
Eventually the looks and flirting became less subtle:
“What I want to do would get us both in a lot of trouble,” the coach reportedly told the girl, adding that he didn’t care and wanted to risk it, suggesting that they find a place outside of school to meet up.
Willis on Campus: Broad Day Predation
After an initial off campus incident following the dialogue at a football game described above (occurring at a vacant townhome that Willis used his realtor credentials to access) Willis grew bolder
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