A jury on Monday heard from the first witness to address the key questions of what Dorcus Allen knew and when concerning the actions of cop killer Maurice Clemmons.
Allen is accused of driving Clemmons to and from the vicinity of a Parkland coffee shop where he gunned down four Lakewood police officers on Nov. 29, 2009.
Clemmons’ cousin Cicely testified Monday that Allen attended a Thanksgiving 2009 dinner where Maurice announced his intention to kill cops and little kids.
She told the jury hearing the murder case against Allen that while she cried and asked her cousin to stop talking that way his suspected getaway driver showed little reaction.
“Dorcus was like, ‘No one knows what’s going on in his head. We can’t do anything. We can’t stop him,’ ” Clemmons testified.
Prosecutors contend Allen, knowing what his employer intended to do, drove Maurice Clemmons to where he killed Sgt. Mark Renninger and officers Tina Griswold, Gregory Richards and Ronald Owens three days after the holiday dinner.
Allen’s charged as an accomplice with four counts of aggravated first-degree murder in the officers’ deaths. Prosecutors also have charged him with four counts of second-degree murder to give jurors a choice.
Allen, 40, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of aggravated murder.
Allen’s pleaded not guilty and contends he didn’t know that the 37-year-old Clemmons, who was killed Dec. 1 by a Seattle police officer, planned to attack police that Sunday morning.
Cicely Clemmons spent nearly an hour on the stand Monday while the prosecution and defense questioned her.
Deputy prosecutor Stephen Penner asked whether she thought her cousin might follow through on his Thanksgiving Day threats. She said she did.
He also asked if it were common knowledge among her cousin’s friends and relatives, including Allen, that Maurice Clemmons was angry at police and had been talking crazy for several months, including asserting he was Jesus.
“Everyone knew he was talking about killing police?” Penner asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
Cicely Clemmons also testified about an interaction she had with Allen the day of the killings. He and LaTanya Clemmons, the cop killer’s sister, stopped by the house Cicely Clemmons shared with her mother.
Maurice Clemmons had come by earlier saying he’d killed police and seeking treatment for a bullet wound.
Cicely Clemmons testified that Allen said he’d been with Maurice that morning. Allen said Maurice had awakened him and asked him to wash the work truck the men used, she testified.
Allen said they drove to a car wash near the scene of the massacre, Cicely Clemmons said. Allen said he went across the street to a convenience store to get change, she said.
Allen said Maurice Clemmons wasn’t in the truck when he returned but arrived shortly thereafter demanding that Allen drive away, Cicely Clemmons testified.
“He said he didn’t know Maurice had did this,” she said.
Public defender Mary K. High conducted the cross-examination. She asked whether Allen or anyone else at Thanksgiving encouraged Maurice Clemmons as he talked about killing people.
Cicely Clemmons said no.
High asked repeatedly about her reaction to her cousin’s admission that he’d killed police.
“You just couldn’t believe that this had happened, right?” the public defender asked.
“Right,” Cicely Clemmons replied.
“And he never said he did that with Dorcus Allen, did he?” High asked.
“No,” Clemmons answered.
Penner got a chance to ask a few more questions.
One was whether Allen had told her he and Maurice Clemmons had driven past the coffee shop that morning. Video surveillance shows a truck similar to the one Allen was asked to wash cruising past the shop as several Lakewood police cars sat in the parking lot outside.
“He didn’t mention it,” Cicely Clemmons said.
Testimony is expected to resume this morning.
Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644
adam.lynn@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/crime
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