LAKEWOOD, Wash. — A retrial in the case against the getaway driver in the 2009 killings of four Lakewood police officers will begin on Thursday with jury selection.
A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision paved the way for Darcus Allen to be retried for four counts of first-degree murder for his role in the shooting.
Allen drove Maurice Clemmons to and from the coffee shop in Parkland where Clemmons shot and killed Lakewood Sgt. Mark Renninger and officers Greg Richards, Tina Griswold and Ronald Owens as they sat preparing for their Sunday morning shift on Nov. 29, 2009.
Allen was originally charged and convicted of four counts of first-degree murder in 2011. However, the jury acquitted him of four "capital punishment aggravators," alleging that Allen knew the victims would be police officers and that there were multiple victims or that the killings were planned. Those factors would have led to an automatic sentence of life in prison.
The Washington State Supreme Court vacated Allen's murder convictions in 2015 after finding the prosecutor at his trial made "improper statements" during the closing argument. In a 2018 decision, the state Supreme Court also held that Allen could not be retried on the capital punishment aggravators because he was previously acquitted of them.
In response, Allen was re-charged with four counts of first-degree murder related to his role in the killings without the capital punishment aggravators. Allen and his attorney moved to dismiss the first-degree murder charges, arguing trying him again on those charges would violate the double jeopardy clause.
The motion was rejected by the state trial court and the court of appeals, and the state Supreme Court declined to review the case. A petition filed for federal habeas relief was also dismissed.
On Sept. 15, a Ninth Circuit judge upheld the district court's ruling and dismissed the petition.
A spokesperson for Pierce County Prosecutor Mary Robnett said the office will not comment on the case until the new trial wraps up.
Alton McDonald with the New Century Justice Network hopes this trial will result in an acquittal for Allen.
McDonald, who organized a rally in support of Allen in 2019, said there's no proof Allen knew what Clemmons was going to do that morning.
"I hope and pray they will see through the fluff and see that there's no evidence that links Darcus Allen to this crime, and therefore they will find him not guilty," said McDonald.