TACOMA, Wash. — A small group of protesters rallied outside the County-City Building in Tacoma on Monday, demanding the release of Dorcus Allen-- the man accused of driving the getaway car after Maurice Clemmons shot and killed four Lakewood police officers at a Parkland coffee shop in 2009.
Protester Algon McDonald, an activist with the New Century Justice Network, first held a moment of silence for the officers who lost their lives in the shooting.
Then, he accused prosecutors of using Allen as a “pawn” and demanded that Allen be released.
McDonald said he had visited Allen in jail. “I talked to him yesterday and he said, ‘Algon, it’s about my rights. It’s about me being incarcerated for something I didn’t do.’”
Clemmons was killed shortly after the shootings before he could go to trial for the murders.
Allen’s retrial is scheduled for February 2020. In 2011, he was convicted on four counts of first-degree murder as an accomplice in the slayings and sentenced to 420 years behind bars. The jury cleared Allen of aggravated charges that would have carried a sentence of mandatory life in prison without parole.
But in 2015, the Washington State Supreme Court overturned the conviction, citing “prejudicial misconduct” by the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office.
In 2018, the state Supreme Court ruled that Allen could not be tried on aggravated charges in his retrial because it would amount to double jeopardy.
Instead, he will face first-degree murder charges.
In an emailed statement, Adam Faber, a spokesman for Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett said, “With this matter set for a re-trial in February, the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is not offering comment on Mr. Allen’s case at this time.”
“This is wrong. Mary Robnett knows it’s wrong,” McDonald retorted. “We’re going to continue to protest for Mr. Dorcas Allen until the county releases him from jail.”