Pierce County prosecutors have filed charges against a 38-year-old convicted murderer in connection with a fatal shooting more than 21 years ago on the Hilltop.
Dontese R. White long had been a suspect in the 1989 slaying of Kathleen Graham, a 47-year-old Federal Way resident shot during a drug deal.
He was arrested after a Tacoma police detective and FBI agent assigned to the FBI’s South Sound Gang Task Force talked to a man who claimed to be present during the shooting.
“The witness provided facts that were unknown to investigators,” charging documents state. “Investigators were able to independently verify those facts” and seek White’s arrest.
He pleaded not guilty Thursday to one count of first-degree murder in Graham’s death. He was ordered held in the Pierce County Jail on $3 million bail.
“We are going to defend this case with everything in our power,” Bobby White, White’s father, said outside of court.
He added that charging his son at this time was unfair.
“He did 18 years in the penitentiary,” Bobby White said. “They wait 18 years and then charge him again? This is another Tacoma witch hunt.”
Charging documents gave this account of Graham’s slaying:
She was shot in the chest early on Dec. 30, 1989, and taken to St. Joseph Medical Center, where she died of her wounds. Investigators believed she was shot with a .41-caliber gun.
A tipster called Crime Stoppers and said White – then 16 and affiliated with the Hilltop Crips – was involved in the shooting.
White and his attorney talked with detectives. He said he’d stood next to the gunman when Graham was shot and identified the shooter by a street name.
He told investigators that, before the shooting, he had been holding a .41-caliber revolver. He said he gave the gun to the shooter and the two tried to sell fake dope to a man and woman in a car in the 2100 block of South L Street.
White said the shooter fired as the man tried to drive away.
The alleged gunman was identified and arrested but never charged because of a lack of credible evidence, deputy prosecutor Phil Sorensen said Thursday.
In recent years, a Tacoma police detective and FBI agent investigating crimes associated with alleged Crips talked to a man who said he witnessed the 1989 shooting.
The man said he and White – who often carried a unique, .41-caliber revolver – had been trying to sell drugs that night.
The witness said the two were standing at South 21st and L streets when a car pulled up and stopped. White walked up to the passenger side of the car and spoke with a woman in the front seat.
He gave her drugs but she complained the drugs were fake. Nevertheless White demanded payment.
“The witness then saw the interior of the car light up and heard a large explosion,” charging documents state. “White withdrew his hand from the car and was holding the unique gun the witness had seen White carry in the past.”
The witness said White claimed to have shot the woman.
White was never prosecuted in Graham’s death but was convicted of second-degree murder in a different killing.
That victim, Louth Kim, was shot Oct. 31, 1992, outside a Parkland pool hall. Kim was killed and another man wounded in a drive-by shooting that targeted rival gang members.
White was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He has other felony convictions, including for third-degree rape, and faces unrelated forgery charges.
Sorensen said the new murder accusation would be White’s second strike, if convicted as charged.
Staff writer Adam Lynn contributed to this report.
Stacey Mulick: 253-597-8268
stacey.mulick@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/crime
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