SEATTLE — Nearly 13 years after Maurice Clemmons killed four Lakewood police officers, his accused getaway driver is now facing a third murder trial, and additional charges of possessing deadly weapons in jail.
Darcus D. Allen, 51, is accused of driving Clemmons to and from the Parkland coffee shop where he gunned down the four officers on Nov. 29, 2009. A mistrial was declared Thursday in Allen’s trial on premeditated murder charges after the jury hung 7-5 to convict. Jurors had been deliberating for about seven days.
The state is seeking a retrial, which has been set for Jan. 9.
Following his first trial, Allen was sentenced to 420 years in prison on four counts of first-degree murder in June 2011, but the state Supreme Court threw out the convictions and ordered a new trial in 2015, ruling that prosecutors prejudiced the jury by misstating the law that describes the knowledge an accomplice must have to be found guilty.
In 2018, the high court ruled Allen could be retried for first-degree murder but not on aggravating circumstances that would increase his minimum sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole or release. Allen’s second trial began early last month.
On Monday, the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office filed two additional felony charges against Allen, accusing him of hiding a “deadly weapon” — a sharpened ballpoint pen casing with a tape handle — and other contraband, including unauthorized underwear and trash bags, when a Pierce County sheriff’s corrections deputy searched his cell at the Pierce County Jail while Allen was in court on Oct 26.
Peter Mazzone, one of Allen’s defense attorneys, said in an email that the new charges prove the prosecutor’s office and Lakewood Police Department “will do anything and stop at nothing to keep this guy in jail.”
Mazzone said it is “beyond suspicious” that a corrections officer searched Allen’s cell, after seven years of incarceration, to find contraband the day before his trial was scheduled to go to the jury.
“This is crazy. This case has just taken on a life of its own,” Mazzone wrote in the email.
Mazzone said he will not seek a continuance for Allen, who has spent seven years in the Pierce County Jail during his appeals and awaiting trial.
Adam Faber, spokesperson for the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office, said the office postponed Allen’s arraignment on the contraband charges until after the jury had finished deliberations in the murder trial at the request of Allen’s attorneys.
Lakewood police Sgt. Mark Renninger and officers Tina Griswold, Greg Richards and Ronnie Owens were at the Forza coffee shop in Parkland when Clemmons walked up to their table and opened fire with two handguns. Clemmons was wounded in a struggle with Richards before the officer succumbed to his wounds.
Clemmons was shot and killed by a Seattle police officer following a two-day manhunt.
Allen later said that before the shootings, Clemmons directed him to a car wash in Parkland and told him to wait. Allen said he figured out something was wrong only after Clemmons returned, and told officers he abandoned Clemmons and the truck later that morning because he wanted no part of what had happened.
Allen had previously attended a dinner where Clemmons threatened to kill police.
“I’m just heartbroken this guy is going through this,” said Mazzone. “In my heart of hearts, I know he didn’t know anything about what happened when he dropped Clemmons off near the Forza Coffee Shop that morning.”
Allen has maintained he was oblivious to Clemmons’ plans and that prosecutors painted him as a “scapegoat” for the public outrage following the officers’ murders.
“I’m sorry about what happened to your family,” Allen said to a victim’s widow during a 2011 statement. “If I could have stopped it, I would have stopped it. I had no idea this man was going to kill your family members. That’s the honest-to-God truth.”
Lakewood police Chief Mike Zaro released a statement Thursday saying he is “deeply disappointed” the jury could not agree on a verdict, and Lakewood Mayor Jason Whalen said Allen should be prosecuted “without delay.”
“He knew what Clemmons did, he saw his gunshot wound, and still he drove Clemmons from the scene and then hid in a motel under a fake name until police found and arrested him,” Zaro said. “Despite all these undisputed facts, this jury could not reach a decision and there will be yet another delay in achieving closure for our department and the families of our four officers.”
