Trial in case of Tacoma employee shot, killed on front porch begins

The evening of July 22, 2010, began like any other Thursday night for Tacoma’s Lisa Melancon.

She and her husband, Joe, went shopping after work, then dined together in their home in the 7200 block of South Bell Street.

Afterward, Joe Melancon went to bed while his wife stayed up to watch TV.

“Lisa could not have known or predicted she was very near the end of her life,” Pierce County Deputy Prosecutor Jerry Costello told a jury Wednesday during the opening day of trial for the man accused of killing her.

Olujimi Blakeney, 26, is charged with first-degree murder, drive-by shooting, second-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm for allegedly shooting the City of Tacoma employee as she stood on her front porch that night.

Melancon was a well-liked code enforcement officer who worked for the city for 15 years.

Costello told jurors that Blakeney – whom he called a coward – fired blindly from a car fleeing a fistfight that had erupted outside Melancon’s house.

Melancon, 40, was hit once in the head when she stepped outside to call in her husband, who’d gone out to see what was going on, Costello said.

“Lisa was murdered right there on her front porch beside her husband,” the deputy prosecutor said.

Blakeney has pleaded not guilty. He’s allegedly admitted firing the fatal shots but said he never meant to hit anyone, court records show. Costello told jurors that didn’t matter. Blakeney is charged with showing “an extreme indifference” to human life, the deputy prosecutor said.

It’s unclear what his defense will be.

Several witnesses, including two men allegedly in the car with him, plan to testify that Blakeney was the gunman. Defense attorney Michael Clarke urged jurors to keep an open mind and evaluate the credibility and motivation of witnesses.

The state’s two chief witnesses – Manny Castillo and Herman Jackson – made deals with prosecutors to avoid murder charges in exchange for their testimony against Blakeney, Clarke pointed out.

“Remember, the burden of proof is on the state,” he said.

Melancon’s death culminated what began as “a war of words” between Castillo’s girlfriend and a teen who lived next door to the Melancons, Costello said.

The two young women exchanged nasty text messages for most of the evening before the neighbor’s male friend, with whom she lived, and Castillo got involved and agreed to fight, the deputy prosecutor said.

Castillo, Jackson and Blakeney arrived on South Bell Street after 11 p.m. They were confronted by the neighbor’s friend, Jordan Kudla, and a friend of his, Costello said.

Kudla, who was carrying the barrel of a rifle, eventually put it down, and he and Castillo began to fight.

At some point, Kudla’s mother came out of her house, grabbed a ball bat and began beating her son and Castillo to break up the fight, Costello said.

Blakeney allegedly pulled out a gun, pointed it at the woman and threatened to kill her, the deputy prosecutor said. He then fired at least one shot into the air, Costello said.

That broke up the fight, and Castillo, Jackson and Blakeney jumped into Jackson’s car to flee. As they were pulling away, Blakeney pointed a revolver out of a passenger-side window and fired, Costello said.

Blakeney later fled to California, where he tried to pass himself off as an ordained minister named “G,” the deputy prosecutor said.

His true identity was revealed when a teenage boy living in a house where Blakeney was staying found the fugitive’s ID card on the floor. The boy did an Internet search on Blakeney and discovered he was sought on a murder warrant. The boy told his father, who alerted authorities, Costello said.