Opening statements in the re-trial for Darcus Allen got underway Monday afternoon in a Pierce County courtroom.
Allen was initially convicted of four counts of aggravated murder for his role as the getaway driver in the November 2009 shooting deaths of four Lakewood Police officers: Sgt. Mark Renninger and Officers Tina Griswold, Greg Richards and Ronald Owens.
Investigators said Allen drove Maurice Clemmons to the scene, waited as Clemmons ambushed the officers at a coffee shop and drove him away. Clemmons was killed two days later in a confrontation with a Seattle police officer.
The state Supreme Court overturned Allen’s 420-year sentence in 2015 and ruled he did not receive a fair trial due to "prejudicial misconduct" by the prosecutor in the case. The justices ruled that the prosecutor misstated the legal definition of "knowledge" when he accused Allen of knowing that Clemmons planned to shoot the officers. The court ordered a new trial for Allen.
Though it’s been more than a decade since the four Lakewood police officers were murdered, after being ambushed while having their morning coffee, many in the community still vividly remember that day.
“I don’t think anybody that lives here and knows it, I don’t think they’re going to forget,” said Chrisie Meyer, who owns a business in the community.
In November of 2009, Meyer was a regular at the coffee shop where the shooting happened and went to the same school as some of the officers killed.
“Me as a customer, seeing them in there and knowing their faces, it was devastating,” she said.
Prosecutors said Allen was behind the wheel of the getaway car, while Clemmons went into the business to kill the officers. Allen has maintained he did not know what Clemmons was planning to do, but prosecutors accused him of being an accomplice who helped plan the murders and tampered with evidence by deleting all calls and texts to Clemmons on a burner phone.
“The defendant dropped off Maurice Clemmons because he knew exactly without a doubt Maurice was going in there to kill himself some police officers,” Pierce County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Sunni Ko said during opening arguments Monday.
Clemmons was killed days later during a confrontation with a Seattle police officer. In opening statements Monday, Allen’s defense attorney, Peter Mazzone, painted a picture of Allen as a struggling father of five who moved up to Washington to support his family.
“There will be no evidence, whatsoever, not one iota, that he knew anything about Maurice Clemmons’ intentions,” Mazzone said, “Nothing of what he was going to do, nothing about what he was up to.”
Many in the community hope this re-trial will be the final chapter in a more than decade long saga, centered on the four fallen officers, who are still honored to this day through memorials both inside and outside the building where the tragedy happened.
“Having that in there is important because it’s showing we didn’t forget, we’re not just moving on,” Meyer said.
Jurors are expected to hear from first responders and others in the coffee shop that day who are scheduled to testify later in the trial.