Two guilty in Tacoma murder with white-supremacist ties

A Pierce County jury on Tuesday found two men guilty of second-degree murder but acquitted a third in a Tacoma murder with ties to white supremacy.

Shanne McKittrick, 33, and Eric Elliser, 34, are to be sentenced May 19. Mark Stredicke, 38, who’d also been charged with murder, was found not guilty.

Prosecutors argued that McKittrick, with Elliser’s help, stabbed Derek Wagner to death Nov. 16, 2013. Prosecutors said the defendants and victim had ties to the white-supremacist movement.

They alleged Stredicke, McKittrick and Elliser were angry with Wagner, 27, because he’d been dating Stredicke’s wife. Prosecutors said that violated a code among white-supremacist gangs that says one skinhead does not sleep with another’s wife.

They contended Stredicke ordered McKittrick and Elliser to kill Wagner.

McKittrick’s attorney argued that his client stabbed Wagner in self-defense, and Elliser’s lawyer told jurors his client had nothing to do with Wagner’s death.

Stredicke’s attorney told jurors his client was angry with his wife, not Wagner, and never ordered his death.

Two other people previously pleaded guilty in the case.

This story was originally published April 28, 2015 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Two guilty in Tacoma murder with white-supremacist ties."