2nd mistrial in case against alleged accomplice in ’09 killings of 4 Lakewood police

A Pierce County judge declared a second mistrial in the case of the alleged accomplice in the 2009 assassinations of four Lakewood police officers and scheduled another trial for this spring. Attorneys on both sides expressed disappointment that the jury wasn’t able to deliver closure in the tragic saga.

Dorcus Allen, 51, charged under the name Darcus by the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, faces four counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors allege Maurice Clemmons could not have gunned down officers Mark Renninger, Tina Griswold, Gregory Richards and Ronald Owens as they met for coffee and slipped away without Allen’s help. Allen, who drove Clemmons to and from the vicinity of the coffee shop the day of the killings, has said he was oblivious to the plan hatched by his friend and boss who had been espousing increasingly anti-police sentiments.

The jury informed Superior Court Judge Edmund Murphy that they could not reach a unanimous verdict Thursday afternoon after just over three days of deliberations, according to deputy prosecutor Sunni Ko. The jury did not ask any legal questions of the judge, only to review Allen’s taped interview with police and surveillance footage.

Ko, who delivered closing arguments in the case Feb. 16, said attorneys had not polled the jury about how they voted. She said the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office ”at this point” plans to pursue a fourth trial set for April 20.

Chief criminal deputy prosecutor Jim Schacht did not return messages from The News Tribune about speaking to the jury. Defense attorneys declined to go into detail because the case is ongoing.

“The jury did their job, and they could not come to a unanimous verdict,” Ko said during a phone call. “It is disappointing.”

In November, a jury deliberated over Allen’s case for more than a week before announcing it could not reach a unanimous verdict during his second trial. His initial conviction and sentence of 420 years in prison were vacated by the state Supreme Court in 2015 because a prosecutor misstated the elements needed to find Allen guilty during closing arguments.

The jury seated for Allen’s third trial was the first to include people of color, a defense attorney said last week. Four Black men, a Black woman, three white men and four white women remained after the dismissal of a juror who recognized a witness.

“The last jury was hung, this jury was hung,” said private defense attorney Pete Mazzone. “Hopefully the next one will be able to decide, and they’ll do the right thing.”

After the mistrial last year, recently retired Lakewood Police Chief Mike Zaro called the evidence of Allen’s guilt “undisputed” in a statement shared by the city that also included reactions from other city officials. Murphy ordered the city to scrub the statements from its website and social media as the trial began in late January, ruling Zaro’s opinion had the potential to prejudice the jury.

The prosecution’s case rested on a mass of circumstantial evidence, including phone call logs, cell tower pings, surveillance footage and timed walks at the scene. No eyewitnesses nor direct evidence depicted Allen, who has maintained his innocence, dropping Clemmons off outside the Forza Coffee shop where he ambushed the police officers as prosecutors alleged.

Allen’s defense attorneys sought to establish their own timeline where Allen drove up to a self-serve car wash and got change and a cigar at a nearby convenience store while Clemmons walked down the street to the coffee shop and committed the killings.

Allen testified that he met up with Clemmons for business that morning and when his boss returned to the car wash, he noticed his mood had shifted. Clemmons demanded Allen to drive faster and showed him the butt of a pistol, revealing a smear of blood on his thumb.

Shortly thereafter, Allen testified, he hopped out of the truck and caught a bus home because Clemmons threatened him. Allen said he learned about the killings on TV and scrambled to get Clemmons’ sister, whom he was living with, and her child out of the house to protect them from police hunting for Clemmons. Allen later checked into a motel under an alias and police found him two days later.

Before sending the case to the jury last week, Mazzone pleaded for the jurors to end “13 years of hell” for Allen. He remains jailed awaiting his fourth trial.

“He’s in a facility that is not designed for this sort of long-term incarceration,” public defense attorney Mary Kay High told The News Tribune.

High said she and Mazzone will explore other legal options to resolve Allen’s case ahead of trial and be ready for their fourth go-round if it comes.

“Whatever it takes to get justice for him, that’s what we’re going to do,” said Mazzone.