purported gang member alleged to have killed 24-year-old Tyree E. Lee during a Central District gang rivalry has pleaded guilty to murder.
Changing his plea Monday, Jymaika S. Hutson admitted to killing Lee in 2007. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, and will likely be sentenced to 14 ½ years in prison.
On April 28, 2007, officers were called to the 2600 block of East Alder Street following a report of shots.
Police arrived to find Lee had been shot multiple times in the back, torso and legs. He died later that evening at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Witnesses to the shooting told police a white Chevrolet SUV had pulled up as Lee was walking to a friend's home. A passenger, Hutson, got out of the vehicle, drew a pistol and fired at least eight shots at Lee.
One witness told police he heard what would be some of Lee's last words.
"Hey man, I don't have a beef with you," Lee told Hutson, according to the witness.
Hutson then gunned him down.
Police were able to trace the car to Gilbert Kinney, Hutson's co-defendant, who'd previously pleaded guilty to rendering criminal assistance.
Speaking with investigators, Kinney admitted to following Lee's car at Hutson's request. He said he had no idea Hutson planned to kill Lee, and admitted that Hutson used his pistol in the shooting.
Hutson -- a member of Deuce 8, a Central District street gang -- had been seen arguing with Lee at Barnett Park shortly before the shooting.
That afternoon, Lee was joined at the park by several men alleged to be involved in Seattle gangs, including Thomas Callandret, a suspect in the Dec. 2, 2008 slaying of Nathaniel Lee Thomas at Vito's Madison Grill currently serving time in federal prison for drug crimes.
Police initially interviewed Hutson five days after the shooting. He denied any involvement in Lee's death; nearly three years passed before prosecutors were able to bring charges against him.
The killing was, essentially, revenge for an earlier attack Hutson blamed on Lee. Hutson was shot in the face with a shotgun by parties as yet unidentified.
Prosecutors were prepared to contend that rivalries between Hutson's gang and Lee's Low Profiles -- a breakaway set of Deuce 8 -- played a part in the shooting, a contention disputed by Hutson's attorney.
That rivalry dates to the slaying of another Seattle man, Deuce 8 leader Terrell Milam.
Milam was widely believed to have injured then-Seahawks defensive back Ken Hamlin in a bar brawl in October 2005. He was shot to death not long afterward by Omar A. Norman, a Low Profile gang member currently serving a 52-year prison term for Milam's murder.
That killing was followed by years of gang shootings and slayings, including the drive-by shooting that saw Hutson shot in the face.
Writing the court, Senior Deputy Prosecutor John B. Castleton noted that Hutson was responding both to his own shooting and Milam's when he killed Lee.
"The defendant admitted to shooting Lee as retaliation for Milam's death," Castleton told the court. "This type of 'payback' is simply part of the gang culture and was just one more incident in the ongoing LP/Deuce 8 feud."
In the run-up to trial, prosecutors asked that Hutson's defense attorney not be allowed to tell jurors that one key witness -- Seattle Detective Shandy Cobane -- was caught on camera threatening an arrestee.
Cobane was heard on video threatening to "beat the (expletive) Mexican piss" out of the man, who was complying with police commands and, it turned out, was not a suspect in the crime police were investigating. Cobane has since been reassigned from the gang unit.
Having pleaded guilty to a reduced charge, second-degree murder, Hutson is expected to be sentenced April 15 in King County Superior Court. He remains jailed.DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder
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