PARKLAND, Wash. — A jury was unable to reach a decision in the retrial of the man accused of being the getaway driver for Maurice Clemmons on the day he shot and killed four Lakewood police officers in Parkland in 2009.
Jurors unanimously told a judge they would be unable to reach a decision regarding Darcus Allen's second murder trial in a reasonable timeframe. The trial began in early October.
Allen's attorney asked for the case to be dismissed over the lack of convincing the jury there is a case against Allen. The state asked the judge to declare a mistrial or have the jury continue deliberating.
The judge ruled it a mistrial. On Dec. 16, a court hearing will be held to decide when the retrial will begin.
A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision paved the way for Allen to be retried for four counts of first-degree murder for his role in the shooting.
Allen drove 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.
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.