Driver in Lakewood police killings gets 420 years

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — The getaway driver in the coffee shop shooting deaths of four Lakewood, Wash., police officers, Dorcus Allen, was sentenced Friday in Tacoma to 420 years in prison.

The News Tribune reports that during the sentencing the 40-year-old Arkansas native maintained his innocence. His defense attorneys vowed to appeal.

A jury convicted Allen in May of being an accomplice to four counts of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors say Allen drove Maurice Clemmons to and from the Parkland coffee shop on Nov. 29, 2009, when Clemmons gunned down the four officers.

Clemmons was killed two days later in a confrontation with a Seattle police officer.

Before the sentencing began, Allen’s defense attorneys argued their client should receive a new trial. They filed paperwork on May 31 arguing that prosecutorial and juror misconduct cost their client a fair trial. Prosecutors have countered in court paperwork that the trial was fair.

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Information from: The News Tribune, http://www.thenewstribune.com