Court Upholds Appeal For Maurice Clemmons' Alleged Getaway Driver

LAKEWOOD, WA — Darcus Dewayne Allen will not face aggravated murder charges for his role as getaway driver when in late November 2009 Maurice Clemmons murdered four Lakewood police officers at the Forza coffee shop in Tacoma (now called BlueSteele Coffee). The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday said retrying Allen for aggravated murder, since he was already acquitted by jury on those specific charges, would be tantamount to double jeopardy.

Allen was previously convicted on four counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to 420 years in prison. An appeal hearing, however, overturned the ruling based on prosecutorial misconduct; a retrial for the first-degree murder charges was set at that time and Pierce County prosecutors tried to lobby for the aggravated murder charges again, which, if convicted, would have condemned Allen to a mandatory life sentence with no chance for parole.

Despite the Washington Supreme Court's 8-0 ruling in Allen's favor regarding the aggravated murder charges, his retrial for the first-degree murder charges could still see him spend the rest of his life in prison.

Allen has reportedly pleaded not guilty to his role in transporting Clemmons to the Forza coffee shop on the morning of Nov. 29, 2009, where Clemmons shot and killed Lakewood police Sgt. Mark Renninger and officers Tina Griswold, Ronald Owens, and Gregory Richards, who prior to his death struggled with Clemmons and shot him in the back.

A few days later, early on Dec. 1, Clemmons was shot and killed by a Seattle police officer he was supposedly planning to ambush. Allen was arrested at a hotel in Federal Way a couple hours later. He was reportedly planning to take a bus to Arkansas, where he'd previously lived and spent time in prison.

Throughout the ensuing investigation in the weeks and months following the infamous murders Allen's stories changed multiple times. He admitted to lying on more than one occasion in an effort to apparently downplay what he knew and how he was involved.

Court documents obtained by Patch describe how Allen drove Clemmons to a carwash down the road from the coffee shop that fateful morning. Clemmons left Allen at the car wash, where Allen proceeded to pretend to wash Clemmons' white truck, according to witnesses. Also while he waited, Allen walked over to a nearby convenience store and bought a cigar, which security cameras captured.

Allen's stories throughout the investigation varied wildly and were rife with inconsistencies; from claiming to have jumped out of the car at a stop light when he saw blood on Clemmons, down to the denomination of currency he used to purchase the cigar, Allen made statements he would later recant before making more statements that were easily disproven by investigators.

Allen later admitted to hearing Clemmons talk about killing police, and then seeing the Lakewood officers' cars at the coffee shop prior to the shooting.

Allen's next court dates are scheduled for February 2019.

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Top image via Ted S. Warren/AP: Darcus Allen appears in court for the first time Dec. 2, 2009.