A man serving 54 years in prison for inadvertently shooting his best friend to death deserves a new trial because a Pierce County deputy prosecutor committed misconduct during the original trial, a state appeals court decided.
The three-judge panel ruled deputy prosecutor John Neeb violated Aquarius T. Walker’s right to a fair trial by making comments during closing arguments that misstated the law and trivialized the jury’s duty in reaching a verdict, among other things.
“We hold that the prosecutor committed flagrant and ill-intentioned misconduct and the cumulative effect of this misconduct requires reversal and remand for a new trial,” Justice Jill Johanson wrote in the unanimous decision issued this week.
Justices Marywave Van Deren and Joel Penoyar also signed the decision.
Deputy prosecutor Brian Wasankari, who argued the appeal on behalf of the county, said Wednesday he intends to ask the Washington State Supreme Court to review the decision.
Wasankari pointed out defense attorney Barbara Corey did not object to much of what the appeal court later found to be prejudicial. That curtailed Superior Court Judge Katherine Stolz’s ability to fix the problems at trial, he said.
“We don’t think the appeals court is applying the proper standard,” Wasankari said.
A jury convicted Walker in 2009 of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault and one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm stemming from a shooting outside a Lakewood tavern in 2006.
Walker and some friends got into a fight that evening with a group of other people.
During the melee, Walker, now 27, shot at a man who was beating up his friend, Tavarrus Moss, and hit Moss in the head instead. Moss, 24, who went by “Scoot,” later died. Two other men also were hit by gunfire.
Neeb contended Walker was guilty of first-degree murder because he showed “an extreme difference to human life” when he fired into a group of fighting people.
Corey argued her client was trying to defend his friend and should be acquitted under a provision of state law that justifies homicide “in the defense of others.”
Jurors sided with Neeb, and Walker later was sentenced to more than five decades in prison.
Walker appealed.
He said Neeb, during his PowerPoint-backed closing statements to jurors, misstated the reasonable-doubt standard, improperly shifted the burden of proof from the state to Walker and misstated the “defense of others” standard.
The county argued at appeal that any improper comments Neeb made were alleviated by the fact he told jurors they should hold him to an exacting standard and disregard any of his comments not backed by facts or the law.
Appeals judges agreed with Walker on all points but one – that Neeb inappropriately commented on how long it took Corey to put on her case.
Johanson wrote in part of the decision Neeb improperly trivialized the reasonable-doubt standard by comparing it to everyday decisionmaking.
Citing already settled law on the issue, the justice wrote Neeb “ultimately failed to convey the gravity of the state’s burden and the jury’s role in assessing its case. ...”
Johanson also said Neeb committed misconduct when he asked jurors, when considering the claims Walker was trying to protect Moss, “Would I do it, too, if I knew what he knew?”
“The prosecutor’s comments encouraged the jury to judge the events not objectively but based on their own individual beliefs about how they would have responded,” Johanson wrote. “The prosecutor’s comments encouraged the jury to make its decision personal.”
The repetitive nature of the misconduct also was troubling, Johanson wrote.
“... this case was largely a credibility contest in which the prosecutors’ improper arguments could easily serve as the deciding factor,” the justice said. “Furthermore, the prosecutor made the improper comments not just once or twice, but frequently.”
Walker likely will remain incarcerated while he awaits his trial, which has yet to be scheduled.
Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644
adam.lynn@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/crime
Twitter: @TNTadam
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