THE FALLEN HEROES>>>>
Top left: Ronald Owen, 37
Top Right: Mark Renniger, 39
Bottom left: Greg Richards, 42
Bottom Right: Tina Griswold, 40
Written by Janet
This just in from Washington > Four police officers were shot dead in an ambush at a Washington state coffee house. This attack occurred east of McChord Airforce Base.
Authorities said two suspects entered Forza Coffee shop and opened fire on the four police officers who were sitting inside. The officers were going over paper work before starting their day shift when they were killed.
Pierce County Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer told The News Tribune in Tacoma that the officers were sitting in the coffee shop with their computers when the shooter came in Sunday morning. He says investigators believe the officers were targeted, and it was not a robbery.
Troyer said this was a downright ambush. He could not immediately say what agency the officers were from. There were other customers in the coffee shop but only the four officers were hit. There are two suspects, one male and one black male.
Pierce County Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer tells Seattle’s KOMO-TV that the officers were hit near 116th Street and Steele Street on the east side of the Air Force base at about 8:30 a.m. local time.
McChord is not in lockdown at this time…..
PERSON OF INTEREST
MAURICE CLEMMONS
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/ 11/29/2009http://www.kirotv.com/news/21752966/detail.html
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/ 11/29/2009~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The officers were sitting in the coffee shop with their computers out when the shooter came in. The officers were targeted, and it was not a robbery, investigators believe.
Pierce County deputies are working at the scene with Tacoma Police, Lakewood Police and the Washington State Patrol.
The baristas who were inside the shop are “stunned and shocked, traumatized,” Troyer said.
A $10,000 reward has been offered for information in the killings. The amount is expected rise, Troyer said.
“The first one to call with information gets it,” he said.
Dave Gabrielson, a clerk at the Foot Mart at 112th and Steel Street South, about a block away from the coffee shop, arrived at work about 7:45 a.m. All was quiet then and he opened the store as usual at 8 a.m.
Then about 30 minutes later, Gabrielson said, “All of a sudden a million cops were zooming up and down the road.”
He said he saw officers bring a police dog into the Willow Park Apartments, where he has lived after recently moving to the area.
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/ 11/29/2009~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The shooter description: Black man in his thirties, wearing back shirt and blue jeans.
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/ 11/29/2009No advance threats
The victims were three males and one female, all officers with the Lakewood Police Department southwest of Tacoma, Troyer said.
There were no specific advance threats against the officers, Troyer said.
A $10,000 reward was being offered for information leading to those responsible.
Brad Carpenter, the founder of Forza Coffee, is a retired police officer himself, NBC News reported. Carpenter started Forza in 2002 and now has 21 stores, primarily in the Tacoma area.
Troyer said there was no known link between the Pierce County slayings and the Oct. 31 fatal shooting of a Seattle police officer who was ambushed as he sat in a parked patrol car with a rookie partner on a Seattle street.
Christopher John Monfort, 41, is charged with aggravated first-degree murder and attempted murder in that shooting. Monfort is also charged with arson and attempted first-degree murder for an October firebombing at a Seattle maintenance yard that damaged several police vehicles.
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/ 11/29/2009http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
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/ 11/29/2009newsdeskinternational
/ 11/29/2009Person Of Interest Identified In Killing Of 4 Officers
LAKEWOOD, Wash. — Police have identified a person of interest in the fatal shootings of four Lakewood police officers.
Ed Troyer of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office said they are looking for 37-year-old Maurice Clemmons.
Troyer said evidence leads police to believe that Clemmons was in the area of the shootings. He has a lengthy criminal history.
The police officers were shot dead in a Pierce County coffee shop in what a sheriff’s spokesman described as a “flat-out ambush” Sunday morning.
The officers — three men and a woman from the Lakewood Police Department — were sitting in the coffee shop with their computers, getting ready to begin their shifts when the gunman came in at about 8:15 a.m., fired on the officers and fled, said Troyer.
One of the slain officers was identified as Sergeant Mark Renninger, who grew up in Bethlehem, Penn.
A statement from his family said, “Mark was a professional, dedicated police officer who made the ultimate sacrifice. More importantly, he was a loving and devoted father, husband and family member who will be missed by many.”
Renninger’s family said the officer is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son.
Lakewood police said the other slain officers are Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and 42-year-old Greg Richards.
Clemmons had been in jail in Pierce County for the past several months on a pending charge of second-degree rape of a child. He was released from custody just six days ago, even though was staring at seven additional felony charges in Washington state.
Clemmons posted $15,000 with a Chehalis company called Jail Sucks Bail Bonds. The bondsman, in turn, put up $150,000, securing Clemmons’ release on the pending child-rape charge.
Clemmons lives in Tacoma, where he has run a landscaping and power-washing business out of his house, according to a police interview with his wife earlier this year.
He was married, but the relationship was tumultuous, with accounts of his unpredictable behavior leading to at least two confrontations with police earlier this year.
During the confrontation in May, Clemmons punched a sheriff’s deputy in the face, according to court records. As part of that incident, he was charged with seven counts of assault and malicious mischief.
In another instance, Clemmons was accused of gathering his wife and young relatives around at 3 or 4 in the morning and having them all undress. He told them that families need to “be naked for at least 5 minutes on Sunday,” a Pierce County sheriff’s report says.
“The whole time Clemmons kept saying things like trust him, the world is going to end soon, and that he was Jesus,” the report says.
As part of the child-rape investigation, the sheriff’s office interviewed Clemmons’ sister in May. She told them that “Maurice is not in his right mind and did not know how he could react when contacted by Law Enforcement,” a sheriff’s report says.
“She stated that he was saying that the secret service was coming to get him because he had written a letter to the President. She stated his behavior has become unpredictable and erratic. She suspects he is having a mental breakdown,” the report says.
Deputies also interviewed other family members. They reported that Clemmons had been saying he could fly and that he expected President Obama to visit to “confirm that he is Messiah in the flesh.”
Prosecutors in Pierce County were sufficiently concerned about Clemmons’ mental health that they asked to have him evaluated at Western State Hospital. Earlier this month, on Nov. 6, a psychologist concluded that Clemmons was competent to stand trial on the child-rape and other felony charges, according to court records.
Clemmons moved Washington in 2004, after being released from prison in Arkansas, state Department of Corrections records indicate. That would mean he had gone five years or so before landing in serious trouble with authorities here, according to a review of his criminal record.
Clemmons started Sea-Wash Pressure Washing Landscaping with his wife, Nicole Smith, in October 2005. The license for the business expired last month.
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/ 11/29/2009GOVERNOR ISSUES STATEMENT ON POLICE SLAYINGS
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Gov. Chris Gregoire issued the following statement on the shooting of four Pierce County police officers:
I am shocked and horrified at the murder of four police officers this morning in Pierce County.
Our police put their lives on the line every day, and tragedies like this remind us of the risks they continually take to keep our communities safe. My heart goes out to the family, friends and co-workers of these officers, as well as the entire law enforcement community.
I offer whatever support is needed to the Pierce County Sheriff in their search for the perpetrator of this terrible crime.
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/ 11/29/2009Gunman May Have Been Injured In Lakewood Attack
PARKLAND, Wash. — A Lakewood officer who was mortally wounded managed to fire shots at the gunman who killed four officers at a coffee shop Sunday morning, authorities say.
“We believe there was a struggle, a commotion, a fight,” said Ed Troyer of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office. “The evidence tells us now that a Lakewood police officer got some shots off.
Troyer said one of the officers struggled out the door and fired his gun at the attacker.
Troyer said if the gunman was hit, he would likely seek medical attention far from the area and claim the wound is from an accidental gunshot.
Troyer asked clinics and hospitals to report anyone who shows up with a gun wound.
“We hope the suspect was shot because that would tell us who it is,” Troyer said.
Troyer said two of the officers were shot and killed as they sat at a table Sunday morning, working on their laptops. One was shot standing up. And the fourth fought with the gunman and made it outside and was able to get off some shots.
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/ 11/29/2009Det. Ed Troyer said investigators are looking for 37-year-old Maurice Clemmons, who is under the supervision of the state Department of Corrections.
DOC spokesman Chad Lewis said Clemmons was transferred from Arkansas, where he had a record of robbery and theft.
Clemmons was recently arrested and charged in Pierce County or third-degree assault on a police officer, and second-degree rape of a child. He had been released on $150,000 bail.
Clemmons’ involvement in the shooting was not made immediately clear.
Troyer said the Tacoma resident is originally from Arkansas, where he had earned a lengthy criminal record for felonies and burglaries.
Records indicate Clemmons has been a Western Washington resident since 2002, when he moved to Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood before relocating to South Seattle, then to Federal Way before settling in Tacoma.
Neighbors described Clemmons as a quiet and paranoid man. They claimed Clemmons has installed cameras all around his home in Tacoma.
“About 12 cameras, I think, in the bushes, around the house. Very paranoid,” said one neighbor.
Neighbors said they knew Clemmons had been in trouble with the law in his past, but they were shocked to discover he was being sought in connection to the deaths of the four Lakewood police officers.
“To think that somebody who lives next door to us could have anything to do with this is scary,” said one neighbor. “I mean, we live in a good neighborhood.”
Anyone with information on Clemmons’ whereabouts is urged to contact police immediately at 866-977-2362.
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/ 11/29/2009The reward is now $100,000….
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/ 11/29/2009Huckabee commuted sentence of man tied to police slayings
The man whom police are seeking as a “person of interest” in the slaying of four police officers was released from an Arkansas prison nine years ago after a controversial decision by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee to commute his sentence.
Maurice Clemmons, 37, was identified late Sunday by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office as a man sought for questioning . Clemmons has pending charges in Pierce County Superior Court for second-degree child rape and third-degree assault for an attack on a police officer. He was released from custody in those cases after posting a $150,000 bond, according to the Lakewood Police Department.
Long before coming to Washington, Clemmons was serving a 35-year prison term in Arkansas for armed robbery but his sentence was commuted by then-Gov. Huckabee, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in his 2008 presidential bid, according to the Arkansas Times Web site.
After his release, he committed two armed robberies and other crimes and was sentenced to 10 years, but was later paroled, according to this column in the Arkansas Leader.
You can see more from Clemmons’ criminal case in Arkansas here.
Huckabee, who was Arkansas governor for more than eight years beginning in 1996, granted sentence reductions to more than 111 people during his time in office. In commuting Clemmons’ sentence Huckabee cited the fact that Clemmons was a teen-ager when he committed his crimes.
‘You have broken your mother’s heart’
In 1990, the then 18-year-old Clemmons was sentenced as a habitual criminal to 60 years in prison for burglary and theft of property.
Just before he was sentenced Clemmons reportedly took a padlock off his holding cell and tried to throw it a court bailiff, but accidentally struck his mother, who had come to bring him street clothes.
“You have broken your mother’s heart,” Circuit Court Judge Floyd Lofton said as he handed down the prison term, according to coverage in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
” I have broken my own heart,” Clemmons responded, according to the coverage of his sentencing.
Clemmons was found guilty of breaking into the home of a state trooper and taking more than $6,000 in valuables, including the trooper’s gun.
In May of 1989, Clemmons was arrested for allegedly carrying a weapon on a Little Rock, Ark., high school campus. Clemmons, then 17, reportedly told officers he brought a .25-caliber pistol to school because he had “been chased and beaten by ‘dopers,’ ” and if they got after him again he “had something for them.”
Described as ‘nice’, ‘generous’
Pierce County neighbors of Clemmons described him as friendly and a hard worker. He “was always very decent, very nice, very generous,” said across the street neighbor Kerstin Horning, 44. “He was always friendly and hard-working,” working at both a pressure washing and a landscaping business, she said.
Horning celebrated July 4 at a party at Clemmons’ house a few years ago. And when her son recently had a birthday, Clemmons gave him a card with some money in it as a gift.
Another neighbor said Clemmons’ house was known for their “fantastic” holiday light displays.
But then one day in May Clemmons was out on his driveway with some employees, “yelling at them, ranting, raving in their driveway,” Horning said.
She said during that incident, car windows were broken on her car and on cars in Clemmons’ driveway, and also on some homes in the neighborhood. The police came and took him away, another neighbor said.
“In May when he went wacko, as I would probably describe it, and this all came out, it was kind of shocking, surprising,” Horning said. “Up until then he was very normal.”
Horning said her’s is a cul-de-sac neighborhood full of people who have been in their houses for decades. Clemmons is a more recent arrival who was friendly with neighbors, but didn’t have any close friends in the neighborhood.
She said she rarely talked to him or spent time with him other than the July 4 party.
Another nearby neighbor who asked not to be named said he didn’t know Clemmons well either, but that he seemed a nice enough guy.
“He seemed like an OK person, but how do you know?” he said. He and Horning said no one in the neighborhood knew anything about Clemmons extensive criminal history in Washington and Arkansas.
“I guess it just kind of boils down to you just don’t know people,” the neighbor said.
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/ 11/29/2009The Arrest Record:
It didn’t post the link above….
STATE of Arkansas v. Maurice CLEMMONS
CR 98-296 ___ S.W.2d ___
Supreme Court of Arkansas
Opinion delivered October 8, 1998
1. Attorney & client — ineffective-assistance claim — two-part standard. — The two-part standard for evaluating claims of ineffective assistance of counsel under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S.668 (1984), provides that the defendant must show (1) that counsel’s representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness and (2) that counsel’s deficient performance prejudiced the defense.
2. Appeal & error — grant of postconviction relief — reversed only if clearly erroneous. — The supreme court will only reverse a circuit court’s granting of postconviction relief if that court’s decision is clearly erroneous.
3. Attorney & client — ineffective-assistance claim — review of defense counsel’s performance. — Under Strickland, the supreme court’s review of defense counsel’s performance must be highly deferential; a fair assessment of his performance requires that every effort be made to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight, to reconstruct the circumstances of counsel’s conduct, and to evaluate the conduct from the counsel’s perspective at the time; the standard of the reviewing court is to indulge a strong presumption that counsel’s conduct falls within the wide range of reasonableprofessional assistance; a lawyer’s choice of trial strategy that proved ineffective is not a basis for meeting the Strickland test.
4. Attorney & client — ineffective-assistance claim — counsel’s actions part of trial strategy — representation did not fall below objective standards of reasonableness. — Where the decision by appellee’s counsel not to ask the trial judge to recuse was a part of his trial strategy, the use of this strategy in no way showed that his representation fell below the objective standard of reasonableness prescribed by Strickland.
5. Judges — recusal for implied bias — proof required. — Unless there is an objective showing of bias, there must be a communication of bias in order to require the recusal for implied bias; no such showing was made in this case.
6. Attorney & client — ineffective-assistance claim — no showing of prejudice. — Even if the defense counsel’s performance could have been in some way deficient, the circuit court failed to state how that purported deficiency prejudiced the appellee.
7. Judges — recusal — infirmity may not be created. — It isimpermissible for a party or counsel to create an infirmity for purposes of requiring a judge’s recusal.
8. Appeal & error — grant of new trial — clearly erroneous. — The circuit court was clearly erroneous in granting appellee a new trial because no showing was made that defense counsel’s performance was deficient or that the appellee was prejudiced by counsel’s deficient representation as required under Strickland; the circuit court’s grant of postconviction relief was reversed.
Appeal from Pulaski Circuit Court; Marion Humphrey, Judge; reversed.
Winston Bryant, Att’y Gen., by: C. Joseph Cordi, Jr., Asst. Att’y Gen., for appellant.
No brief filed.
Tom Glaze, Justice.
Appellant Maurice Clemmons acquired four felony convictions and a revocation of probation during a period from September 1989 to mid-February 1990, and all five of those proceedings became the subject matter of Clemmons’s application for writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District, in 1996. See Clemmons v. Norris, PB-C-96-19 slip op. at ____ (F.3d March 26, 1996). In the federal proceeding, the district court, relying largely on Robinson v. Norris, 60 F.3d 457 (8th Cir. 1995), held Clemmons’s right to counsel was violated in each of the five state convictions, and directed that a writ of habeas corpus should issue unless Clemmons was allowed to pursue postconviction proceedings in state court. Id. The Pulaski County Circuit Court, First Division, duly afforded Clemmons postconviction proceedings relating to his prior five convictions and denied him relief in all but one. The case in which the trial court granted a new trial was his February 23, 1990 conviction for burglary and theft of propertywhich had been affirmed on direct appeal in Clemmons v. State, 303 Ark. 265, 795 S.W.2d 927 (1990). The circuit court found that Clemmons was denied the right to effective assistance of counsel because his trial attorney in the burglary and theft case failed to request the trial judge’s recusal. The State brings this appeal from the circuit court’s granting of postconviction relief. See State v. Herred, 332 Ark. 241, 964 S.W.2d 391 (1998); State v. Slocum, 332 Ark. 207, 964 S.W.2d 388 (1998).
In Slocum, we discussed Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), and its required two-part standard for evaluating claims of ineffective assistance of counsel: (1) the defendant must show that counsel’s representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness; and (2) counsel’s deficient performance prejudiced the defense. 332 Ark. at 210, 964 S.W.2d at 390. Here, Clemmons failed to meet either prong of the Strickland test.
In this appeal, this court will only reverse a circuit court’s granting of postconviction relief if that court’s decision is clearly erroneous. Slocum, 332 Ark. at 211, 964 S.W.2d at 390. Thus, we initially examine the lower court’s order to review why that court granted Clemmons a new trial. That order reads as follows:
This court believes that there is merit to [Clemmons's] claim that counsel should have asked the presiding judge to recuse, since prior to the beginning of the trial, the trial judge indicated in the record that he believed he had been threatened by [Clemmons]. Even though the jurywould decide issues of guilt or innocence, and further would decide on the length of punishment, because the judge had sole discretion on whether a sentence would be run concurrently or consecutively, and because a judge would make evidentiary rulings throughout the trial and decide on jury instructions, the importance of an unbiased judge is axiomatic. The fact that the trial judge stated that the petitioner had threatened him was enough to raise questions of bias and prejudice. The failure of counsel to seek the judge’s recusal constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of [Clemmons's] Sixth Amendment right to counsel. (Emphasis added.)
The circuit court made its foregoing findings and decision to grant postconviction relief based on pretrial events that occurred at Clemmons’s burglary and theft trial held before Judge Floyd Lofton. Clemmons’s defense counsel, Llewellyn J. Marczuk, testifying at the postconviction hearing, related that, at the earlier trial, a security guard had reported to Judge Lofton that Clemmons had taken a hinge from one of the courtroom doors, hid it in his sock, and intended to use it as a weapon. The hinge was found and taken from him before he harmed anyone. In another incident, Clemmons extracted a lock from a holding cell, and he later threw the lock which hit his mother. During this second episode, Clemmons purportedly threatened Judge Lofton. In a third incident, Clemmons reportedly reached for a guard’s pistol duringhis transportation to the courtroom. Based on these occurrences, Judge Lofton placed Clemmons in leg irons and seated a uniformed officer near him during trial. This court upheld Judge Lofton’s remedial actions in Clemmons. 303 Ark. at 267-269, 795 S.W.2d at 928-929.
Marczuk, when testifying why he decided not to request Judge Lofton to recuse after Clemmons threatened the judge, said that he believed the judge would treat Clemmons fairly and opined Judge Lofton was not biased against Clemmons. In fact, Marczuk expressed that, while he did not always agree with what Judge Lofton did, Lofton was consistent and treated everyone the same. In this context, Marczuk further related that Judge Lofton told Clemmons that if he was not guilty, he should go to trial, but if he was guilty and entered a plea, the judge would not hurt him. Marczuk said that the judge’s remarks meant Lofton would run Clemmons’s sentences concurrently, not consecutively.
Under Strickland, our review of defense counsel’s performance must be highly deferential, and a fair assessment of his performance requires that every effort be made to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight, to reconstruct the circumstances of counsel’s conduct, and to evaluate the conduct from the counsel’s perspective at the time. See Slocum, 332 Ark. at 212, 964 S.W.2d at 390. In addition, the standard of the reviewing court is to indulge a strong presumption that counsel’s conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance. Id. We have also held on many occasions that a lawyer’s choice oftrial strategy that proved ineffective is not a basis for meeting the Strickland test. 332 Ark. at 213, 964 S.W.2d at 391.
Here, Marczuk was quite familiar with how Judge Lofton conducted his court, and he expressed confidence the judge would be fair to Clemmons even though Clemmons’s actions during trial evoked placing him in leg irons. Moreover, Marczuk was confident that, if Clemmons chose to plead guilty at any stage of the trial, Judge Lofton would treat Clemmons favorably by running his sentences concurrently instead of consecutively. While Marczuk’s trial tactics proved ineffective, his choice of strategy in no way showed his representation fell below the objective standard of reasonableness prescribed by Strickland.
Even if defense counsel Marczuk’s performance could have been in some way deficient, the circuit court failed to state how that purported deficiency prejudiced Clemmons. As we held in Lammers v. State, 330 Ark. 324, 955 S.W.2d 489 (1997), unless there is an objective showing of bias, there must be a communication of bias in order to require the recusal for implied bias. No such showing was made here. As previously noted, the circuit court merely concluded that the fact Clemmons threatened Judge Lofton was enough to “raise questions of bias and prejudice.” Such reasoning, if adopted, would mean a defendant, by misbehaving in court or confronting the judge, could force the judge’s recusal. We have held that it is impermissible for a party or counsel to create an infirmity for purposes of requiring a judge’s recusal. See Seeco, Inc. v. Hales, 334 Ark. 134, 969 S.W.2d 193 (1998).
For the foregoing reasons, we hold that the circuit court was clearly erroneous in granting Clemmons a new trial because no showing was made that defense counsel’s performance was deficient as required under Strickland, or that Clemmons was prejudiced by counsel’s deficient representation. Therefore, the trial court is reversed.
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/ 11/29/2009http://www.arkansasleader.com/frontstories/st_06_23_04/huckabee.html
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/ 11/29/2009Shocked, grieving community holds vigil for officers
Several hundred people gathered outside Champions Centre Church in Tacoma on Sunday evening, part of a candlelight vigil for the four officers who were slain that morning in Parkland.
Prayers were offered for the Lakewood police officers, their families, and the shocked and grieving community.
The pastors spoke of the need for hope in the face of tragedy, and challenged the gathered people to commit their lives to something meaningful.
“Let’s ask how we can love more, be better parents, and how we can be better citizens,” said lay speaker Eric Van Alstine.
Lead pastor Kevin Gerald said that while none of the officers were members of the congregation, the church was moved to hold the vigil in support of other church members who are in the law- enforcement and firefighting community.
“We hope in a time like this the church can be there for the needs of community,” Gerald said.
Stephanie James, a church member and the wife of a Lakewood police officer, cried while the crowd sang “Amazing Grace.” She said she was at church this morning when she learned of the officers’ death.
“We were just flabbergasted,” she said. “There are no words to I can come up with to explain.”
Enumclaw police Officer Tony Ryan was among the half-dozen or so officers who attended. Afterward, he and his colleagues were surrounded by throngs of people who wanted to hug them or shake their hands and thank them for their service.
The gratitude was appreciated but it didn’t take away the pain, Ryan said.
“It doesn’t matter who it is or what agency, we’re a big family and this hurts,” he said.
Other community members left flowers and cards of condolences and appreciation near the scene of the shooting. One poster taped to a utility pole was decorated with a drawing of a police badge with a black band across the badge. The poster read, “We love you! Our prayers are with you!”
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/ 11/30/2009Police: Suspect in deaths of officers not in house
Authorities say a suspect in the slaying of four police officers who were gunned down in a coffee shop was not found in a Seattle house.
Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said Monday that the location of 37-year-old Maurice Clemmons is not known, and it’s possible he may still be in the Leschi neighborhood staked out overnight by Seattle police. Troyer also says people who know Clemmons told investigators that he had been shot in the torso.
Troyer says warrants for first-degree murder have been issued against Clemmons. He is accused of shooting four officers from the Tacoma suburb of Lakewood Sunday morning as they were working in the coffee house.
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/ 11/30/2009newsdeskinternational
/ 11/30/2009http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/113009clemmonsproc.pdf
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/ 11/30/2009Police seeking suspect’s wife, her car
Police are looking for the wife of suspected cop killer Maurice Clemmons, and have told officers to be on the lookout for her car, possibly headed to Arkansas.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010386387_webleschihome29m.html?syndication=rss
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/ 11/30/2009Gun carried by shooter found in officers’ deaths
The Pierce County sheriff’s office has confirmed that investigators have recovered a handgun carried by the man who gunned down four police officers at a coffee shop in the Tacoma suburb of Parkland.
Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Dave McDonald says the gun was found in the coffee shop, but investigators say they don’t know if it’s the weapon used in Sunday’s shooting deaths of the Lakewood officers. McDonald would not say what type of weapon it is.
Police are searching for 37-year-old Maurice Clemmons, described as the suspect in the shootings. McDonald says that despite finding the handgun, authorities still consider Clemmons armed and dangerous.
The News Tribune of Tacoma initially reported the discovery of the weapon.
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/ 11/30/2009Clemmons’ Family May Be Helping Him Avoid Capture
PARKLAND, Wash. — Family members of the man wanted in connection with the slayings of four Lakewood police officers may be helping the fugitive hide from law enforcement, sources told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Kevin McCarty.
The sources said they suspect Maurice Clemmons’ friends and family are trying to throw investigators off his trail as the 37-year-old tries to avoid capture.
Ever since Clemmons was named as a suspect in the fatal shooting of the Lakewood officers, police agencies have been inundated with calls and tips. Detectives said they now believe some false leads came from people trying to buy Clemmons time by keep search teams busy.
Police sources said evidence found at the scene of the home in Seattle where police thought Clemmons was holed up indicates he was still bleeding badly when he arrived there.
Officers were told he was still hiding in the house, but when police arrived, Clemmons was long gone.
Near the area where Clemmons’ truck was found in Parkland, searchers looked for any clues left behind, including a blood trail.
Search and rescue team volunteers went door to door, looking through trash cans and in bushes for any possible evidence.
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/ 11/30/2009Police Could File Charges Against KING-TV Over Chopper
The Pierce County prosecutor may file charges against KING-TV’s news director and helicopter pilot because the station’s chopper allegedly interfered with the investigation into the fatal shootings of four Lakewood police officers, said Ed Troyer of the sheriff’s office.
“They’ve hampered the investigation three times today; they’ve slowed us down,” Troyer told reporters gathered near the shooting scene.
“If that helicopter shows up again, you’re all out of here,” he said, urging other media to call KING.
“We need you, and we need the public’s help, but we also can’t risk having other people get hurt and having our operations jeopardized by a helicopter — which we’ve had three or four conversations with the news station and they don’t seem to care or understand or acknowledge the issue,” Troyer said.
KING-TV News Director Mark Ginther said he did not know why Troyer would say the station’s helicopter interfered with the investigation.
“Each time I heard directly from him, we moved our helicopter,” Ginther said, adding, “we complied with the FAA regulations over the airspace.”
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/ 11/30/2009““““““““““UPDATE“““““““““““
The reward is now $125,000. The reward money has been put up by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and Crime Stoppers. Police are rounding up his relatives, to dry up the source of those helping hide the person of interest in the police slayings….Troyer said people who know Clemmons told investigators he had been shot in the torso in his bloody struggle with the officers. Police think he may be treating his wounds by himself or with the help of others.
“We know that this was his last location and that he has suffered from a gunshot wound when the (Parkland) incident occurred,” said Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer.
Police find handgun at scene of police killings
The Pierce County sheriff’s office has confirmed that investigators have recovered a handgun carried by the man who gunned down four police officers at a coffee shop in the Tacoma suburb of Parkland.
Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Dave McDonald says the gun was found in the coffee shop, but investigators say they don’t know if it’s the weapon used in Sunday’s shooting deaths of the Lakewood officers. McDonald would not say what type of weapon it is. McDonald says that despite finding the handgun, authorities still consider the suspected shooter, Maurice Clemmons, armed and dangerous.
Law enforecement are watching hospitals, train and bus terminals, and the Washington State Patrol is monitoring freeways in the massive hunt for Clemmons. Agencies throughout Western Washington are cooperating in the effort to find Clemmons, 37.
State Patrol Trooper Cliff Pratt says its officers are on high alert on all the roads that lead outside of Washington, but especially in the metropolitan area of Pierce, King and Snohomish counties. In addition, he says troopers already assigned to state ferry terminals have been alerted to watch for Clemmons.
newsdeskinternational
/ 11/30/2009Maurice Clemmons was interviewed by local TV last summer
By all accounts, Clemmons left Arkansas and came to Western Washington. By last summer, it appears his life was spiraling into a tail spin. A home he owned in Parkland was torched by illegal fireworks. He talked about that with KING 5′s Linda Brill.
“Look what happened. I lost the home,” said Clemmons.
http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=108&sid=248875
newsdeskinternational
/ 11/30/2009Map of the area…..
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?moduleurl=http:%2F%2Fmaps.google.com%2Fhelp%2Fmaps%2Flocal_search%2Fmapplet.html&mapclient=google&hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=106493611807595766498.0004799e7a13dfe936829&ll=47.514418
newsdeskinternational
/ 11/30/2009One of the people Clemmons victimized was stunned to learn he was free. The woman and two of her relatives were victims of Clemmons in May. He threw bricks at their car windows as they drove past his home. He also asked them if they had Jesus in their hearts.
Those crimes landed Clemmons in the Pierce County Jail. eight felony charges in all, including assaulting two sheriff’s deputies who responded to that brick throwing scene.
Clemmons got out of jail right away, posting $40,000 bail. But those charges caught the attention of police all the way in Arkansas. They issued what’s called a “no bail warrant.” Clemmons had violated his parole with the crimes in May. Pierce County, they said, should arrest him with no bail allowed.
Clemmons was arrested on that warrant and then charged with another crime that came to light – rape of a 12-year-old relative. Prosecutors asked for $300,000 bail total just to make sure he stayed in jail in case the no bail hold from Arkansas went away.
But then things went wrong. Arkansas mysteriously revoked their warrant, saying they were releasing their hold on Clemmons. And then surprisingly, four months after going to jail, a bail bonds company in Chehalis called “Jail Sucks” came up with the money to get Clemmons out of jail.
On Monday, the Fallen Officers Guild president was outraged that it happened.
The Pierce County Prosecutor says Clemmons should have stayed in jail and that they did everything they could on their end. The Superior Court Judge in the case did reduce the bail slightly and Clemmons was able to make it. But he said there are two problems: No. 1, Arkansas never should have commuted that life sentence many years ago. And No. 2, the revocation of the no bail warrant.
When asked why Arkansas would revoke that warrant, Lindquist said they still doesn’t know why. He said they even called in July and asked if they were sure about it. He said the only thing he can think of is that they didn’t want to deal with Clemmons any more.
newsdeskinternational
/ 11/30/2009Court documents portray Clemmons as “dangerous”
Two state psychologists wrote in court-ordered report last month that the man suspected of gunning down four Lakewood police officers Sunday was dangerous and likely to commit violence in the future.
http://blog.thenewstribune.com/crime/2009/11/30/court-documents-portray-clemmons-as-danger/
newsdeskinternational
/ 11/30/2009Officer Britt Sweeney Speaks Out On Lakewood Officer Murders
Seattle Police Officer Britt Sweeney survived an ambush that killed her partner, Officer Timothy Brenton on Halloween night. Monday she sent this message to Q13 FOX News:
- These events render us speechless and leave everyone, Law Enforcement and civilian alike questioning… why? There is no logical answer that will ease our confusion, so we are left to pick up the pieces and create our own stories. Our hearts are broken, yet we must continue to fight. We will continue to fight. We are continuing to fight.
To the families of the fallen officers I am truly sorry for your loss and thank you for supporting and loving your officer in their choosen career. If I could take on the burden of your pain I would without hesitation. You are all in my thoughts and prayers.
To my brothers and sisters at Lakewood PD… I wish I had some profound or powerful words to say to make this ordeal tolerable, but I don’t. I will pray for your focus and wisdom to guide you through this incredibly trying time. Please, stay strong.
Britt
http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-113009-lakewoodsweeney,0,971637.story
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/01/2009newsdeskinternational
/ 12/01/2009Search For Cop Killer Ends In Gunfire
The 40-hour manhunt for the suspect in the quadruple killing of four police officers ended with the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Maurice Clemmons, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Ed Troyer said.
Clemmons was shot at 2:45 a.m. by a lone Seattle police officer on South Kenyon Street in the Rainier Valley.
Seattle Police Department Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel said the officer came across a car reported stolen when he detected movement behind him as he approached the car.
Pugel said the officer recognized Clemmons and ordered him stop and show his hands.
“He wouldn’t stop,” Pugel said. “The officer fired several rounds and took the person into custody.”
Clemmons died from his injuries, Pugel said.
Authorities said Clemmons was carrying a handgun stolen from the body of one of the slain Lakewood officers.
Police said the suspect had an old wound apparently received during Sunday’s gunfight. Though the wound was bandaged, it appeared he had not received professional medical treatment.
Troyer said four people have been arrested for allegedly helping the suspect elude authorities during the massive two-day manhunt. More arrests are expected.
“We expect to have maybe six or seven people in custody by the day’s end,” said Troyer. “Some are friends, some are acquaintances, some are partners in crime, some are relatives. Now they’re all partners in crime.”
Those people gave Clemmons medical aid, cell phones and helped to hide Clemmons in a continuing effort to throw police off Clemmons’ track, Troyer said. See full story.
Relatives that spoke to KIRO 7 denied the accusations.
On Monday, officers detained a sister of Clemmons who they think treated the suspect’s gunshot wound.
“We believe she drove him up to Seattle and bandaged him up,” Troyer said.
The Seattle shooting came just hours after police and SWAT teams busted into a Renton duplex Monday evening where Clemmons’ niece lives.
Clemmons’ niece, Destiny Hinton told KIRO 7 in an exclusive interview that she hasn’t seen her uncle in at least a month.
Hinton said police were searching the wrong place when they broke a window and burst into her neighbor’s apartment.
Video shown on KIRO 7 showed broken furniture, glass and various items strewn across the floor inside the apartment.
Authorities said Clemmons singled out the Lakewood officers and spared employees and other customers at a coffee shop Sunday morning in Parkland, a Tacoma suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle.
http://www.kirotv.com/news/21760096/detail.html
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/01/2009Police: Clemmons’ Family, Friends Helped Him Elude Capture
Family and friends of Maurice Clemmons helped the fugitive hide from law enforcement during the 40-hour manhunt that ended when a Seattle police officer fatally shot him early Tuesday morning, police said.
Before Clemmons was killed, sources told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Kevin McCarty that they suspected Clemmons’ friends and family were trying to throw investigators off his trail as the 37-year-old tried to avoid capture.
As soon as Clemmons was named as a suspect in the fatal shooting of the Lakewood officers, police agencies were inundated with calls and tips. Detectives said they now believe some false leads came from people trying to buy Clemmons time by keep search teams busy.
Police sources said evidence found at the scene of the home in Seattle where police thought Clemmons was holed up indicates he was still bleeding badly when he arrived there.
Officers were told he was still hiding in the house, but when police arrived, Clemmons was long gone.
Near the area where Clemmons’ truck was found in Parkland, searchers looked for any clues left behind, including a blood trail.
Four people were arrested for allegedly helping the suspect elude authorities during the massive manhunt.
Online jail records show the three were booked Monday and early Tuesday for investigation of rendering criminal assistance to four counts of first-degree murder.
Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said friends and family members helped Maurice Clemmons after his Sunday morning attack.
Family and friends supplied Clemmons with cell phones, provided him with money and tried to get him out of the state, Troyer said.
“It’s just a continuing effort to throw wrenches into our investigation,” he said.
Troyer said more may be arrested Tuesday, and he expects six or seven people will be in custody by the end of the day.
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/01/2009Troyer told Fox police arrested three people overnight on suspicion of rendering criminal assistance. They were identified as Ricky Hinton, Eddie Lee Davis and Douglas Edward Davis.
The suspected getaway driver also was caught early Tuesday morning, about 6:30 a.m., he said at a briefing. That person wasn’t named.
A gun belonging to one of the fallen Lakewood officers was found with Clemmons after he was recognized with the stolen vehicle about 2:45 a.m. and then killed, Troyer said. He was reaching for it when he was shot Tuesday.
Clemmons indicated the night before the shooting “that he was going to shoot police and watch the news,” Troyer told the Tacoma News-Tribune.
On Monday, officers detained a sister of Clemmons who they think treated his gunshot wound. Her name wasn’t released. Police think she drove him to Seattle and bandaged him up.
Patrice
/ 12/01/2009Many thoughts and prayers.
Maya
/ 12/01/2009Sending my thoughts and prayers to all the families who have lost a husband, wife, mother, father, brother, sister, son, or daughter…
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/01/2009newsdeskinternational
/ 12/01/2009Clemmons’ Alleged Accomplices Appear In Court
Three men — two of them friends, one of them the half brother of Maurice Clemmons — made their first court appearances Tuesday hours after Clemmons was shot and killed by a Seattle police officer.
The men are accused of helping Clemmons escape the law after he gunned down four Lakewood police officers in a Parkland coffee shop Sunday.
Douglas Davis pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree rendering criminal assistance. His bail was set at $500,000.
His brother, Eddie Davis, is also charged with first-degree rendering criminal assistance. He pleaded not guilty and his bail was set at $700,000.
The brothers are both from Arkansas and have close ties to Clemmons and his family.
Pierce County prosecutors asked a judge to hold a third man, Clemmons’ half-brother Ricky Hinton, in custody pending further investigation and possible charges. He will be arraigned on Dec. 3.
A fourth man, Darcus Dewayne Allen, has been identified as the alleged getaway driver and has been booked on suspicion of four counts of first-degree rendering criminal assistance, making false statements to police and driving without a valid license, police said.
Allen allegedly drove Clemmons to a spot blocks away from the Forza Coffee shop. Clemmons then walked to the shop, shot the officers and returned to the car, prosecutors said.
http://www.kirotv.com/news/21776784/detail.html
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/01/2009States at odds over warrant that might have kept Clemmons in jail
Arkansas officials today provided what they say is a copy of a warrant they say could have kept Maurice Clemmons in a Washington jail, preventing his release six days before he allegedly killed four Lakewood police officers. But Washington corrections officials dispute that claim, saying it was not valid in Washington and that Arkansas had essentially washed its hands of Clemmons
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010398993_webwarrant01.html?syndication=rss
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/01/2009The Getaway Driver
Pierce County authorities say a man who served time in an Arkansas prison with Maurice Clemmons has been identified as the getaway driver in the fatal shooting of four Lakewood police officers.
Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer says Darcus D. Allen is being held in Pierce County for investigation of rendering criminal assistance. Troyer says Allen will be charged on Wednesday in connection with Sunday’s police shooting.
Allen was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a 1990 double murder at a Little Rock liquor store. He was paroled in 2004.
Arkansas prison spokeswoman Dina Tyler says Allen and Clemmons never shared a cell, but lived in the same barracks – along with 50-100 other inmates – at various times during their imprisonment.
Clemmons, accused of gunning down the officers in a coffee shop, was killed early Tuesday by a Seattle police officer.
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/02/2009Prosecutors were expected Wednesday to charge Maurice Clemmons’ alleged getaway driver, Darcus D. Allen, according to Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer. Authorities accuse Allen, a convicted murderer who served time in an Arkansas prison with Clemmons, of being the getaway driver for Clemmons as he fled the scene of the shootings at coffee shop in Parkland early Sunday.
Two women accused of giving Clemmons first aid and rides also may be charged Wednesday in Tacoma, Troyer said.
He said Clemmons’ aunt, Letricia Nelson, was arrested Tuesday evening in Pacific, northest of Tacoma, for allegedly giving first aid to Clemmons, helping him change clothes and making arrangements to get him to other locations. Arrested around the same time in Des Moines, Wash., was Quiana Maylea Williams, an acquaintance of Clemmons. Both women are being held in the Pierce County jail.
Before Clemmons arrived at the Seattle house, a woman described by police as a friend bought medical supplies for him and helped treat the gunshot wound. Clemmons also washed and dried a load of laundry at her house, according to court documents.
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/02/2009Documents said after the shooting, Clemmons got in a truck with a driver already inside and fled the scene. A short time later, the same vehicle was left in a parking lot. During a search of the vehicle, blood was found on the arm rest and the vehicle was registered to a business owned by Clemmons, documents said.
Police said Clemmons, who was bleeding badly after being shot in the upper stomach by one of the Lakewood officers, went to that sister’s home.
Authorities said Clemmons’ sister cleaned his wound, packed it with cotton balls and gauze, and then duct-taped his torso.
She then helped her brother change clothes, police said.
That sister, who is assisting investigators, showed detectives blood-stained carpet at her home.
Tuesday night, detectives with search warrants cut out pieces of that carpeting and removed it from the home.
Investigators told KIRO 7 the carpet is an important piece of evidence that could prove that Clemmons was helped and hidden by a network of friends and family after he murdered four Lakewood police officers.
Documents said that from Algona, he was driven by the female to the Auburn Supermall and met a third vehicle driven by another female. The group drove to a nearby apartment complex then Clemmons left with the female driver who drove him to Seattle, documents said.
Police knew Clemmons was associated with an address in the Leschi neighborhood and were investigating the area when they saw a black man on foot near a residence, documents said. The officers also saw a vehicle leaving the area and stopped the vehicle.
The female driver told police Clemmons was a friend of hers and said he told her “he had killed a police officer or officers in a Tacoma coffee shop,” according to documents. Clemmons had just gotten out of the vehicle before police her.
They searched the car and found a piece of clothing that had a hole in the front and had blood on it. They also found gauze, bandage material and peroxide.
More people will be questioned and Troyer said there is a “strong possibility of more arrests in this case.”
Following a 40-hour manhunt that spanned two counties, Clemmons was shot early Monday by a lone Seattle police officer on routine patrol in the Rainer Valley.
“We expected that it was going to get to the point where he had nowhere to go and no one left to help him,” Troyer said.
“We are all relieved to have Clemmons off the street, but there is still work to be done on this case, and we’re not going to rest until everyone involved in this murder, in any way, is brought to justice,” said Pierce County prosecutor Mark Lindquist.
Pierce Co. Sheriff Paul Pastor said the shooting of four Lakewood police officers “is a horrendous crime.”
Pastor said, “It’s a crime not just against people who wear badges. It’s a crime against everybody in the community. It’s a crime against the good we can do for people in the community.”
Clemmons died 40 miles from the Parkland shooting scene, in Seattle’s Rainier Valley early Tuesday morning.
Troyer said he believed that if Clemmons had not been killed by police he would have eventually died from his untreated wound.
A Seattle patrol officer spotted a suspicious vehicle in the 4400 block of South Kenyon Street at 2:43 a.m., police said. The Acura Integra was unoccupied; its engine was running and the hood was up. The officer stopped to investigate further and discovered that the Acura was stolen.
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/02/2009Alleged Getaway Driver Used Name Of Parkland Man As Alias
Investigators say the man suspected of being the getaway driver after the police killings tried to throw them off the trail by using a fake name.
When Darcus Allen allegedly used that alias, it put the reputation of a man from Parkland on the line.
Randy Huey was not involved in helping suspected cop killer Maurice Clemmons run from the law, but his name was involved.
For a day or so, his name was associated with the group of people accused of assisting Clemmons to flee from police. Investigators said Allen had been using Huey’s name as an alias.
“I don’t know the right words to use, not sure if betrayal is the right word. The mind of a criminal, you know. Who knows the mind of a criminal, who knows the reasoning?” Huey said.
Huey said Clemmons was his neighbor and casual acquaintance.
In his eyes, Clemmons is the guy he had once driven to Portland with to buy Powerball lottery tickets – not an assassin.
“I never seen him as angry or anything like that, never you know,” Huey said.
Huey lives only a few blocks from the Parkland coffee house where Clemmons is accused of killing four Lakewood police officers.
“It is just tragedy – there’s a lot of people been affected by this. I grieve, I mourn for every loss. It is terrible, just terrible,” he said.
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/02/2009Washington Won’t Take Parolees From Arkansas
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said Wednesday the state won’t accept any more parolees from Arkansas until she’s assured of a better system for sending them back.
Officials in Washington and Arkansas have been sparring over who had responsibility for Maurice Clemmons who killed four Lakewood police officers Sunday at a Parkland coffee shop.
Clemmons was shot to death early Tuesday by a Seattle police officer.
At issue is a warrant that Arkansas officials issued for Clemmons. Arkansas corrections officials say the warrant should have been enough to keep Clemmons in jail on an earlier Pierce County charge. But Washington officials say it wasn’t handled properly in Arkansas.
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/02/2009When Arkansas dropped warrant, Pierce Co. couldn’t hold Clemmons
When a Pierce County prosecutor appeared in court on July 2 and requested that Maurice Clemmons be held on $300,000 bail, the prosecutor knew he had a safety net that could keep Clemmons in custody, no matter what: a fugitive warrant out of Arkansas.
But over the next three weeks, that warrant wound up being rescinded through an unusual sequence of events captured in hearing transcripts, correspondence and e-mails.
A Pierce County judge ultimately set bail for Clemmons at $190,000 — a figure closer to the amount sought by prosecutors than the wishes of Clemmons’ defense attorney.
In Arkansas, meanwhile, corrections officials had taken steps that effectively stripped Washington’s safety net — leaving authorities here both angry and confused. A central figure in what transpired in Little Rock is a former traffic judge once accused by disciplinary officials of threatening to kill a process server and filing a false insurance claim, among other allegations.
Clemmons, 37, wound up posting bond Nov. 23 to secure his release from the Pierce County Jail. Six days later, he allegedly shot and killed four Lakewood police officers.
The controversy surrounding Clemmons has become so intense that Gov. Chris Gregoire today issued an order barring Washington from accepting any new parolees from Arkansas pending further investigation. At a news conference, Gregoire said it’s her job to protect the people of Washington: “If Arkansas doesn’t like it, sue me.”
First ruling: No bail
Maurice Clemmons appeared in Pierce County Superior Court on July 2 to be arraigned on eight felony charges, all stemming from a spree of violence in May. He stood accused of assaulting two sheriff’s deputies and raping a 12-year-old girl.
John Cummings, a deputy prosecutor, represented the state. A Federal Way lawyer, Daniel Murphy Jr., appeared for Clemmons. The judge was John A. McCarthy.
Clemmons pleaded not guilty to all eight charges. Then the subject moved to whether Clemmons could be released before trial.
“I would request bail, as it is presumed,” Murphy told the judge.
In Washington, bail is indeed presumed. That principle is grounded in the state’s constitution, which says “all persons charged with crime shall be bailable,” with the exception of capital cases. None of the charges facing Clemmons qualified as a capital offense.
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/03/2009Man Accused of Helping Gunman Flee After Washington Police Killing
A suspect accused of helping Maurice Clemmons flee after the gunman massacred four suburban police officers could face trial as an accomplice to murder — a crime that might bring the same penalties as if he had pulled the trigger himself.
Darcus Allen, 38, pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail Wednesday after he was charged with being a fugitive. The prosecution is reviewing evidence to determine if any additional charges will be filed, including criminal assistance charges.
Investigators said Allen, who did time with Clemmons in an Arkansas prison, was the first among a network of friends and relatives who helped Clemmons avoid police during a frantic two-day manhunt that began when Clemmons walked into the Forza coffee house Sunday morning and shot to death four Lakewood police officers.
Prosecutors warned they might charge him with the more serious offense of being an accomplice to aggravated first-degree murder. Such a charge could make him liable to the same penalties as the shooter — life without release, or execution.
Court papers filed Wednesday state that Allen eventually acknowledged to police that he drove Clemmons to the scene and noted that there were police cars parked at the coffee shop. He bought a cigar as he waited for him to return and then sped away when Clemmons climbed in the passenger side with a bullet in his abdomen, the papers state.
Allen told investigators that he quickly decided he wanted no part of what Clemmons had done and bailed out of the truck at the first intersection — but investigators said that was a lie, contradicted by other evidence.
One of the officers managed to shoot Clemmons in the gut before dying, but with first aid, rides and money from his associates, Clemmons was able to survive two days on the run. He was shot and killed early Tuesday morning by a lone patrolman who encountered him on a South Seattle street.
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/04/2009Clemmons’ sister taken into custody during court hearing
The sister of Maurice Clemmons was taken into custody by sheriff’s deputies today at the conclusion of the arraignment for two other women charged with helping Clemmons after he killed four Lakewood police officers Sunday.
The new charges included an allegation that Clemmon’s aunt possessed a handgun taken by Clemmons from one of the Lakewood officers.
It was not immediately clear why the sister, Latanya Clemmons, 34, was being held. But earlier this week she said police had searched her Tacoma home while she was gone, left a warrant on the table and taken cameras, her computer and paperwork.
Clemmons reacted calmly when she was led away, and told a relative not to worry.
Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said Latanya Clemmons would be arrested, but didn’t specify on what allegation. She was being questioned by detectives this afternoon.
The aunt, Letricia Nelson, 52, and Quiana Maylea Williams, 26, a friend of Clemmons, were charged Friday with providing transportation, medical treatment and medical supplies to Maurice Clemmons after he shot and killed the police officers.
Clemmons brought Nelson the officer’s gun shortly after the shootings, saying he had taken it from one of the four officers he had killed, according to the charge. She put it into a shopping bag with bloody items, according to charging documents.
Clemmons then took the bag, the documents say. A handgun of a Lakewood officer was found in a front pocket of the sweat shirt Clemmons was wearing when a Seattle police officer shot and killed him Tuesday after a two-day manhunt.
Clemmons also had an older wound he received during an exchange of gunshots with Lakewood officers on Sunday.
Nelson was charged with six counts of rendering criminal assistance in the first degree and one count of possession of a stolen firearm. She pleaded not guilty and was ordered held on $1.5 million bail.
Williams was charged with five counts of first-degree rendering criminal assistance. She pleaded not guilty was ordered held on $1 million bail.
Prosecutors allege Nelson and Williams helped conceal Clemmons while he was on the run, and claim Nelson lied to police.
The two women were among six people friends and relatives of Clemmons who have been booked into jail this week on allegations they helped Clemmons after the killings.
Nelson helped Clemmons when he showed up at her home in the Algona-Pacific area shortly after Sunday’s shootings, according to charging documents.
She gave Clemmons $60 and keys to a relative’s car, the documents allege.
Clemmons told the two he was going to rest and heal, and that he wasn’t done, the relative is quoted as telling a detective.
Nelson put the handgun from the Lakewood officer into the shopping bag before Clemmons left with two brothers who had brought him to Nelson’s house, the documents say. The brothers, who are being held for helping Clemmons, took Clemmons to the Auburn Super Mall, triggering a series of movements to elude police.
The relative said when she told Nelson it “ain’t right” not to call police, Nelson responded, “It ain’t right, but family’s more important,” according to the documents.
On Monday and Tuesday, Nelson denied to a Tacoma police detective that she had seen or heard from Clemmons after the shootings, prosecutors allege. But when questioned Wednesday, she said her prior statements weren’t true, the documents say.
After Clemmons left his aunt’s house Williams bought peroxide, gauze and bandage material to treat Clemmons on Sunday, according to the charging documents.
Williams told detectives Clemmons had called her earlier Sunday and told her he had been shot and that he had killed an officer or officers, the documents allege. She said she met up with him and took him to her home, where she provided the medical treatment.
Prosecutors allege Williams drove Clemmons to the Leschi area in Seattle, where police missed Clemmons by minutes.
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/08/200920,000 Mourners Expected at Memorial for 4 Murdered Washington Police Officers
Thousands participated Tuesday in a procession to the memorial for four murdered Washington state police officers, which about 20,000 mourners were expected to attend.
Pierce County officials said 2,000 police and fire vehicles from more than 150 agencies joined the procession to the Tacoma Dome service for the victims of a coffee shop shooting.
Vehicles left McChord Air Force Base at 10 a.m. Tuesday on a route past the Lakewood Police Department to be joined by Lakewood police and families of the murdered Lakewood officers.
Maurice Clemmons — who gunned down Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42 — was killed Dec. 2 in a shootout with a Seattle police officer after a two-day manhunt.
The procession route takes participants under a large American flag hanging from arching fire truck ladders. Officials estimated most of the 20,000 people in the Tacoma Dome for the 1 p.m. PST service would be officers.
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/12/2009Hundreds line up as Wash. coffee shop reopens
Hundreds of police officers and other customers lined up early for the reopening of the Washington state coffee shop where four officers were shot and killed two weeks ago.
The Forza Coffee shop opened its doors at 8:14 a.m. Saturday, the hour on Nov. 29 when Maurice Clemmons ambushed Lakewood Police Sgt. Mark Renninger and Officers Ronald Owens, Tina Griswold and Greg Richards.
Clemmons was later shot and killed by Seattle police.
Lakewood Police Chief Bret Farrar was the first customer. He said it was heartwarming to see such support from the community.
The coffee shop now features a large framed poster with portraits of the officers. Eventually the shop plans to hang plaques honoring them.
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/22/2009And two more officers shot
EATONVILLE, Wash. — Two sheriff’s officers responding to a dispute between two brothers were ambushed by one of the brothers lying in wait with a gun after being welcomed into the home by the other, authorities said. The gunman was killed and the officers were seriously wounded.
The shooting is the third in three months in which authorities say a gunman has taken aim at law enforcement officials in Washington state.
Pierce County Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said a sergeant and a deputy were shot at around 8:45 p.m. Monday while responding to a dispute between David E. Crable and his brother near Eatonville, a rural community in the Cascade foothills.
Crable, 35, shot the two officers before he was killed when they returned fire, Troyer said. The names of the officers were not immediately released.
The officers were greeted at the door by Crable’s brother, while Crable was in the house arming himself, Troyer said. When the deputies entered the house, Crable opened fire from upstairs, hitting one of the officers multiple times.
“This is somebody that was laying in wait for our guys, armed themselves, with the intent on shooting them,” Troyer told reporters near the shooting scene. “There’s not much we’re going to be able to do when somebody is hiding and arming themselves and we have somebody else inviting us into the residence and the second person opens fire on us.”
Crable’s family tried to help the wounded officers by providing first aid and barricading themselves in a room away from the shooter, Troyer said.
“It looks like people that were in this residence went out of their way to help our people,” he said.
The sergeant was taken to Madigan Army Medical Center and was listed in serious condition, Troyer said. The deputy was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and remained in critical condition in the intensive care unit, he said.
“Most people of the community as we have seen in the last few weeks have a tremendous regard for (law enforcement),” Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor said at the scene late Monday night. “But there are people in the community that don’t come from there, and that’s the people we deal with day after day.”
Pierce County sheriff’s records show Crable was convicted earlier this year of exhibiting or displaying a weapon with intent to intimidate.
He also has been arrested for malicious mischief and assault and had a no-contact order by his 16-year-old daughter who lived with Crable’s brother. Troyer said Crable had a history of “terrorizing” his family.
The Monday night shooting comes three weeks after four Lakewood police officers were shot and killed at a coffee shop before their shift. After a two-day manhunt, suspect Maurice Clemmons was shot to death by a Seattle police officer.
A month before, Seattle Officer Timothy Brenton was killed as he sat in his patrol car Halloween night. Christopher Monfort, 41, has been charged with aggravated first-degree murder in Brenton’s death.
newsdeskinternational
/ 12/25/2009Child of alleged shooter saved deputies
Authorities in Pierce County, Wash., said a 16-year-old girl likely saved the lives of two deputies by confronting her father after he shot the men.
Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Ed Troyer said Thursday Bryona Crable is a heroine for dragging her father, David E. Crable, to the ground after the man shot two deputies summoned to an area home, The Seattle Times reported.
Authorities said the Wednesday’s incident began when Hausner and Mundell responded to a call at Crable’s brother’s house that Crable, 35, was drunk and acting belligerently.
While the deputies were escorting the man from the home, Crable allegedly pulled out a handgun and shot both men.
Mundell, 44, was left in critical condition, while Hausner, 43, was treated and released from the hospital.
Despite his wounds, Mundell shot Crable to death. Troyer said before Crable could finish off the two wounded deputies, his daughter took action.
“She’s absolutely a hero, but she’s also a victim. She witnessed her dad being shot,” Troyer told the Times. “She’s had a bad life at her dad’s hands. She saw her dad shoot two deputies and she stood up and did the right thing and tried to help our guys.”
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/ 12/28/2009this makes 6 out of 8 who were shot in the past 6 weeks or so that have died…
Pierce County deputy wounded in ambush dies
One of the Pierce County sheriff’s officers shot in an ambush by a drunken man has died after being taken off life support, a sheriff’s spokesman said Monday evening.
Deputy Kent Mundell suffered life-threatening injuries and had been hospitalized at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle since the shooting a week ago. He died at 5:04 p.m. with his family by his side, Detective Ed Troyer said.
The shootings of Mundell and Sgt. Nick Hausner marked the third time in less than eight weeks that police officers in Washington state had been shot in the line of duty. Hausner was released from the hospital on Christmas Eve.
David E. Crable, 35, shot the two officers on the night of Dec. 21 before he was killed in the subsequent shoot-out, police said. Crable had a history of domestic violence and “terrorizing” his family, Troyer added. The officers had gone to the home of Crable’s brother near Eatonville, after family members called to have an intoxicated Crable removed.
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/ 12/29/2009Memorial for Deputy Mundell Jan 5 at Tacoma Dome
TACOMA, Wash. —
Pierce County authorities say a memorial for Deputy Walter “Kent” Mundell will be held Jan. 5 at the Tacoma Dome.
The time for the ceremony is being finalized.
Mundell was shot by a man while responding to a domestic violence incident at a residence in Eatonville on Dec. 21. He died Monday.
Pierce County authorities say the deputy’s body will be escorted to Mountain View Funeral Home in Pierce County mid- to late-afternoon on Tuesday. A small contingency of Seattle Police Department and Washington State Patrol cars will escort five Pierce County Sheriff’s vehicles.
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/ 12/31/2009Alleged Getaway Driver In Lakewood Shootings Will Stay Jailed
A judge said a man accused of helping the man who killed four Lakewood police officers will stay jailed for at least another month, reported KIRO Eyewitness News.
Pierce County investigators said Darcus Allen could face murder charges if there is evidence he helped Maurice Clemmons kill four police officers on Nov. 29.
The decision to keep Allen in jail will give investigators time to gather more evidence.
Allen has been in the Pierce county jail cell for a month waiting for prosecutors to decide his fate.
The 43-year-old man is under investigation on accusations of acting as the getaway driver for Clemmons the day he shot and killed the Lakewood police officers.
Allen is being held on a fugitive warrant from Arkansas and prosecutors want to wait until they have completed their investigation before sending him back east to face a parole violation.
“Whenever anybody is wanted on a warrant from another state, we file a fugitive detainer, we contact the other state, Arkansas, and they initiate a procedure called obtaining a governor’s warrant which can easily take up to two or three months,” said deputy Pierce County prosecutor Stephen Penner.
Allen was a cellmate of Clemmons when both were imprisoned in Arkansas. The fugitive warrant gives police and the prosecutor’s office time they need to determine what role Allen may have played in the murders.
“We’re reviewing reports right now to see if additional charges will be filed from the Lakewood officers’ homicide,” said Penner.
Allen will be back in court in late January.
He is one of seven people accused of helping Clemmons. All seven remain jailed.
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/ 01/13/2010WA Gov. Gregoire proposes sentencing changes
Gov. Chris Gregoire wants sentencing changes for mentally ill offenders.
At a news conference Wednesday, she said that her proposed new option in the state’s justice system would add the charge of guilty and mentally ill. It would allow courts to find a person guilty of a crime and sentence them to prison, instead of a state psychiatric hospital. Gregoire says that they would still receive the mental health treatment they need while in prison.
She also wants people who have been found not guilty by reason of insanity to face a panel that would consider whether the release would harm the community. Both ideas have to be approved by the Legislature. Gregoire reiterated her support for a constitutional amendment that would give judges more leeway to deny bail.
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/ 02/17/2010Puppy Donated To Lakewood PD Named After Fallen Officers
A breeder of German Shepherds donated a puppy to the Lakewood Police Department after four officers were killed in November.
The 3-month old male puppy will be housed with an officer until he is old enough to be tested for possible K-9 work for LPD.
The officer named the puppy ROGeR, which contains the last name initial of the four fallen officers, Mark Renninger, Ronnie Owens, Tina Griswold and Greg Richards.
The officers died when they were shot in a Parkland coffee shop by Maurice Clemmons. Clemmons was shot and killed two days later by a Seattle police officer.
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/ 03/02/2010Clemmons’ alleged getaway driver pleads not guilty to murder charges
The man who allegedly drove Maurice Clemmons to the area where Clemmons killed four Lakewood police officers on Nov. 29 pleaded not guilty Tuesday afternoon to four counts of aggravated first-degree murder.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Vicki Hogan ordered Darcus Allen held without bail during his arraignment in a packed courtroom.
The Prosecutor’s Office has until April 1 to determine whether it will seek the death penalty against Allen, 38. The only other penalty possible for aggravated murder is life in prison without parole.
Prosecutors said in charging papers filed earlier Tuesday that Allen repeatedly heard Clemmons talk before the coffee shop shootings about his desire to kill police officers. Allen also admitted that while driving Allen he saw police cars parked outside the Forza coffee shop in Parkland, where the officers were later shot, charging papers allege.
He also said he waited for Clemmons, 37, at a nearby carwash with Clemmons’ pickup when the shootings occurred, according to the charging papers.
Killed in the coffee shop were Sgt. Mark Renninger and Officers Ronald Owens, Tina Griswold and Greg Richards.
Clemmons, in an exchange of gunfire with one officer in the Forza coffee shop, was wounded. He eluded police for nearly two days until he was shot and killed Dec. 1 by a Seattle police officer.
“When you help a criminal, you become a criminal,” Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said in a written statement. “And when you help a murderer, knowing he intends to commit murder, you’re an accomplice to murder.”
Lindquist said when Allen drove Clemmons to the scene of the killings, knowing Clemmons intended to kill officers, he became an accomplice to aggravated murder.
“We’re all glad to see the charges,” said Lt. Heidi Hoffman, spokeswoman for the Lakewood Police Department. “We feel they are appropriate given the circumstances.”
Charging papers lay out a series of events leading up to the shootings, including what prosecutors describe as Clemmons’ initial plan to lure police to his door by cutting off a GPS ankle bracelet he was wearing while awaiting trial on charges of assaulting police officers and child rape.
“Knock, knock, knock, boom!” Clemmons said during a Thanksgiving Day gathering with Allen and others at the home of Clemmons’ aunt, according to charging papers.
Clemmons told everyone present he intended to murder police officers and that he believed officers might come to his door because he had not made required contacts with his community corrections officer, the charging papers allege.
Clemmons displayed a handgun and said he had another in his car, according to the charging papers.
One relative objected to the remarks, but Allen and others present did not, prosecutors said.
By Saturday, Nov. 28 — the day before the officers’ slayings — Clemmons had removed the GPS device, but a bonding company monitoring it did not call police, according to the charging papers.
The next day, Clemmons drove his truck to Allen’s home and picked him up, the charging papers say.
Allen drove the two south on Steele Street in Parkland, past the Forza coffee shop, at about 8 a.m., prosecutors said.
Both saw marked police cars parked outside the shop and Allen turned around and drove north on Steele Street and again past the shop, charging papers say.
Shortly after 8 a.m., Allen pulled the truck into the self-service carwash, a quarter-mile to the north, prosecutors said.
Allen either dropped Clemmons off at the shop or drove Clemmons to the carwash, where he walked to the coffee shop, according to the charging papers.
Allen went across the street from the carwash to a gas station and bought a cigar with a $20 bill, then returned and waited for Clemmons, prosecutors said.
Witnesses at the gas station reported Allen held a spray-wand in his hand but no water was coming out, prosecutors said. One witness said Allen appeared to be pretending to wash the truck.
Clemmons went into the shop, shot the officers and went to the carwash, charging papers say.
Baristas who had fled the coffee shop saw Clemmons walking to the carwash, recognizing him as the person who shot the officers, prosecutors said.
As police sirens filled the air, the baristas saw Clemmons look over his shoulder and quicken his gait before he got into the passenger side of his pickup, charging papers say.
Allen drove away without washing the pickup. The pickup was later found abandoned in the parking lot of a market near Clemmons’ house.
Friends and relatives then began aiding Clemmons in his escape and treating his gunshot wound, prosecutors allege.
Allen later went to the home of Clemmons’ aunt, where he told others of driving Clemmons to the carwash to wash the pickup, charging papers say.
Allen said Clemmons disappeared for a few minutes, must have committed the murders during that time, and then returned to the pickup, prosecutors allege.
Allen and Clemmons’ sister went to a Federal Way motel, where Allen checked in under a false name, and the two discussed buying a bus ticket to Arkansas, charging papers say.
On Dec. 1, Allen and the sister were arrested.
Allen initially told detectives he didn’t know Clemmons intended to kill the officers, prosecutors said.
Allen also lied when he told detectives he only drove once past the coffee shop, contrary to video surveillance evidence, charging papers say.
Allen was booked into the Pierce County Jail on Dec. 1 on suspicion of rendering criminal assistance. He’s been held since then on a fugitive warrant from Arkansas, where he has been linked to a March 22 bank robbery in Little Rock.
Allen previously served 14 years for a 1990 double murder in Arkansas, where he did prison time with Clemmons.
The Arkansas warrant kept him in jail without bail, allowing Pierce County prosecutors time to consider charges.
In addition to Allen, five of Clemmons’ relatives and a friend have been charged with helping Clemmons elude police.
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/ 03/10/2010State’s refusal of Ark. felons violates national compact
Washington’s refusal to accept new felon transfers from Arkansas since the shooting of four Lakewood police officers is apparently a violation of an interstate compact between the states.
Last week, the federal agency that oversees the Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision (ICAOS) — a 50-state contract governing the state-to-state transfer of felons on probation or parole — issued an opinion that rebuked Washington over Arkansas felons. Washington has rejected at least three “mandatory” transfers from Arkansas since December.
The dispute springs from the Nov. 29 shooting of four Lakewood police officers by Maurice Clemmons, an Arkansas felon under supervision in Washington.
After the shooting, Washington officials accused Arkansas of violating the spirit of the compact in Clemmons’ case and demanded changes to the rules that — if in place last year — would have given it authority to send Clemmons back to Little Rock before the shooting.
But in the opinion issued last week, ICAOS officials said Washington could not unilaterally change the compact, which has the effect of federal law. The compact requires states to accept “mandatory transfers” of felons — including Clemmons — who have families and jobs in other states. It allows states to send felons home only if they have three “significant” violations of probation or are convicted of a new felony.
Washington wants changes to the compact that would give the state more criminal and social history of felons before accepting transfers. It also wants authority to send a felon home if he proves to be a risk to community safety.
“We know what the rules are,” said Eldon Vail, secretary of Washington’ DOC. “We’re still trying to persuade Arkansas to improve community safety by implementing a supplemental agreement.”
ICAOS officials met with Vail last month in Olympia. His staff plans to address the compact’s governing board in Kentucky on March 31.
If agreement is not reached, Washington could withdraw from the compact, but such a move would be complicated. ICAOS could seek a federal court order requiring Washington to accept transfers from Arkansas.
Officials from Arkansas’ Department of Community Correction couldn’t be reached Wednesday.
As of late 2009, Washington had the nation’s fourth-highest ratio for importing supervised felons from other sates. Washington had 1,046 felons under supervision elsewhere, and supervised 2,527 felons from other states.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011312629_doc11m.html?syndication=rss
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/ 04/09/2010Families of four slain police officers say in a lawsuit Pierce County, Wash., could have prevented the deaths by monitoring jail phone calls of the killer.
In preliminary court papers that must be filed before a lawsuit in Pierce County Superior Court, the families say they plan to seek $182 million in damages, The Seattle Times reported.
Gunman Maurice Clemmons killed the four Lakewood officers as they sat in a coffee shop Nov. 29.
While being held on other charges in the months preceding the slayings, Clemmons had made numerous phone calls describing how he planned to kill police officers after his release.
“This catastrophe, the worst law-enforcement tragedy in the history of Washington state, was completely preventable,” the families say in separate claims.
Bob Christie, an attorney representing three of the families, said the jail should have been monitoring Clemmons’ phone calls. Christie noted Clemmons, who was facing life in prison if convicted of another felony and was on parole from Arkansas, had threatened a booking officer’s life at the jail, had been charged with assaulting two police officers and was classified high-risk.
As with all jail calls, Clemmons’ calls were recorded and the Times listened to all of his recorded calls after obtaining them under a state public-records law.
Clemmons was angry over his treatment by law enforcement, the calls reveal.
In late September, he told his half-brother, Rickey Hinton: “I’m going to war. There ain’t going to be no trial. I’d rather be carried by six than be judged by 12 [jurors].”
“I hate the police. And I hope they listening.”
He spoke of the agony slain officers’ children would endure.
“I want to hear them say, ‘Why?’ ” he said.
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/ 04/10/2010Families of 3 slain officers drop claims
Tears rolled down the tired faces of three women who sat side by side on a family-room couch Friday afternoon in Puyallup. They were the two widows and a sister of three of the Lakewood police officers gunned down by Maurice Clemmons four months ago in a coffee shop.
They announced plans to file multimillion-dollar claims against Pierce County, hoping to spark jail reforms and create a safer community. When the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department and many in the community verbally attacked them, they were shocked. Much of the public, which had sympathized with these mourning families, now seemed to vilify them.
“We thought this would help with healing,” Kim Renninger, widow of Sgt. Mark Renninger, said of the claims. “But it has opened a wound I never expected. What hurts most of all is them calling me greedy.”
Bitter comments came from talk-radio callers and anonymous commenters on newspaper and television Web sites.
Renninger and Officers Ronald Owens, Gregory Richards and Tina Griswold were gunned down by Clemmons on Nov. 29.
Lawyers for all four families had announced plans Thursday to file $182 million in claims against the county, saying the Sheriff’s Department and jail failed to prevent the officers’ deaths by not monitoring jail telephone calls made by Clemmons. He repeatedly vowed that he would kill police officers once he made bail.
On Friday afternoon, the three women said their families have dropped their claims against Pierce County because of the backlash.
“We don’t want this ugliness. I just want it to be over,” said Kelly Richards, one of the widows.
Owens’ sister, Ronda LeFrancois, said: “We were in it for the change. The system is broken. I never would have been able to make it through the tragedy without the community. We’d never throw this back in their face.”
A lawyer for Griswold’s husband, who filed a claim, said Friday that his client was considering whether to change course, as well.
In the months before the murders, Clemmons can be heard in recorded jail calls telling his wife and other family members that he planned to kill law-enforcement officers. As with all inmates, his phone calls were recorded but not monitored.
The Seattle Times listened to all of Clemmons’ recorded telephone calls, having obtained them first under the state’s public-records law.
Earlier Friday, the three families said the claims weren’t about money but policy changes and revised the claim to reflect their thoughts by dropping the monetary demand.
By Friday afternoon, the families were distraught at the public’s negative perceptions and decided they didn’t want to pursue the legal claims.
Family members say they don’t expect the jail to monitor hundreds of inmate calls a day. Instead they want the county to develop a procedure to evaluate prisoners and listen to calls from those deemed the most dangerous.
“I’m wanting a policy put in place so they monitor phone calls of high-risk inmates — bottom line,” Kim Renninger said. “We see a flaw, and we’re trying to put a spotlight on the flaw and fix it. I love and support this county, but I want it a safer place for my kids and families.”
Attorney Bob Christie, representing three of the families, said he contacted legal advisers at Pierce County in early March to discuss the families’ ideas about monitoring jail recordings. But he said “we got stonewalled.” He crafted administrative claims for his clients, intending to force the issue. He assigned multimillion-dollar amounts for damages, a move he now regrets.
Christie said claims are typically filed seeking a dollar amount in damages. However, the $182 million total created a distraction from the purpose of the claims, he said.
“I feel horrible. My approach to this created this backlash,” Christie said. “You can blame that on me.”
Renninger was upset that Pierce County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Ed Troyer acted surprised by the claims and attacked the families in the local media with words like “greed” and “meritless lawsuit.”
“It wasn’t about the money,” she said tearfully.
After the four officers were murdered, the community reached out to the wives and other family members, supporting them emotionally and donating $2 million to an education fund for the officers’ nine children.
“People think we’re living high off the hog with this $2 million,” LeFrancois said. “That’s so untrue.”
The fund is controlled by a board of trustees that allocates money only to the children’s education. The widows and other family have received no money from the account.
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/ 05/24/20101st trial begins in Lakewood police killings
Opening arguments began Monday in Tacoma in the trial of Latanya Clemmons, sister of cop killer Maurice Clemmons.
The 34-year-old is charged in Pierce County Superior Court with rendering criminal assistance.
She is accused of giving a ride and money to Darcus D. Allen. He’s accused of being the getaway driver after the fatal shooting Nov. 29 of four Lakewood police officers.
She pleaded not guilty, and her lawyers say she helped Allen for reasons unrelated to the shooting.
Prosecutors say she gave Allen a ride to a hotel, paid for two nights’ stay, gave him $300 for a bus ticket to Arkansas and told him to lay low until things blew over.
Maurice Clemmons was killed Dec. 1 by a Seattle police officer.
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/ 06/17/20105-year sentence in Lakewood officers shooting
A woman convicted of rendering criminal assistance in the shooting deaths of four Lakewood, Wash., police officers was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison.
Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/06/17/1275594/5-year-sentence-in-lakewood-officers.html#ixzz0rAQ47Azq
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/ 08/27/2010Clemmons’ relative seeks to move trial from Tacoma
Media: Coverage too widespread, he says
Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/08/26/1347758/clemmons-relative-seeks-to-move.html#ixzz0xpL4N83u