Man denies killing Rafays

Sebastian Burns told the jurors who will decide his fate that he had nothing to do with the brutal slaying of his best friend's family in Bellevue 10 years ago -- but that he pretended he did because he was scared he would end up dead himself.

Admittedly nervous on the witness stand yesterday, Burns said he gave a phony confession to two undercover Canadian police officers who were posing as dangerous criminals because he thought it was what they wanted to hear.

So when they asked him, he said, he never denied killing Atif Rafay's family.

"The risk seemed almost pointless," Burns told jurors in King County Superior Court, "and it seemed to us the best and safest thing would be to play along."

Burns and Rafay, both 28, are charged with three counts of aggravated murder for the July 1994 deaths of Rafay's parents, Tariq and Sultana, both 56, and his autistic sister, Basma, 20. All were bludgeoned in their home in the Somerset neighborhood.

King County prosecutors contend that Rafay and Burns, both Canadian citizens who were 18 at the time, wanted to get their hands on roughly $350,000 in life-insurance proceeds and believed they could outsmart police with a "perfect murder."

Jurors already have heard the testimony of the pair's close friend, Jimmy Miyoshi, who said Rafay and Burns carefully planned the crime and told him about it afterward.

Rafay's attorneys said they haven't decided whether Rafay will testify in the trial, which began nearly six months ago and could wrap up within weeks.

Yesterday, Burns was talkative and articulate, though he occasionally faltered. "My apologies," he said more than once when asking his attorney, Jeff Robinson, to repeat a question. He acknowledged being afraid that he might not "speak well" after spending nine years in the unsociable setting of jail.

He told jurors that he had become afraid of the Canadian police officers who befriended him in a long 1995 undercover operation. The officers, posing as high-rolling criminals, began soliciting his help in staged crimes such as laundering money and stealing a car.

One of the men told Burns he had killed someone before, and Burns said he made up his mind that he "was simply never, ever going to cross him."

Eventually, he told the two men he didn't want to be involved in their criminal activity anymore, and Burns said it didn't go over well.

Burns said the men seemed worried that he would turn them in to police, and that at one point, they stared hard at each other for a long time while Burns watched in alarm.

"I thought they were deciding right then whether they were going to kill me," Burns testified.

The two undercover officers began pressuring him to give details about the Rafay killings, saying they could help him destroy evidence. Burns said he feared they would have him killed if he didn't, believing they were worried he would rat out their supposed crime organization to police if he were arrested.

Burns said he and Rafay agreed to "confess" to these supposed criminals, but that he was forced to be evasive because he knew only what he had heard and read in the newspapers about the slayings. Burns said one of the undercover officers "wanted me to give him an A-to-Z story about the crime so he could sabotage the evidence. I didn't have an A-to-Z story because I didn't do it."

Prosecutors may cross-examine Burns today or tomorrow.

They contend that Burns beat all three members of the Rafay family with a baseball bat while Rafay tried to make the house look as if it had been robbed. Investigators found Burns' hair in a shower with Tariq Rafay's diluted blood.

Burns called police early July 13, 1994, and said he and Atif Rafay had come home to find the bloody scene.

But in past months, jurors have seen footage of Burns and Rafay casually talking about killing the Rafay family. Canadian officers secretly bugged their house and cars, and they videotaped some of their meetings with the undercover officers.

In the video footage, Burns called the killings "more nerve-racking than we expected," but said he was "a lot happier than if it didn't happen." Rafay told the undercover officers he "just didn't have the nerve" to help Burns bludgeon his family and "was pretty freaked out" by what he saw.

The pair told police they went out for dinner and a movie that night. They were seen at more than one restaurant and a Bellevue showing of "The Lion King." Prosecutors contend the pair made sure they were seen, then crept out of the darkened theater to commit the crimes.

Rafay and Burns returned to Canada within days of the slayings. They were arrested the following year, though a battle over their extradition lasted several years.

The case has endured many twists, from fueling debate about capital punishment to a sex scandal involving Burns and a former lawyer. If convicted, Rafay and Burns would be sentenced to life in prison.

More headlines and info from Bellevue.