Last of 4 sentenced in connection with fatal Hilltop shooting

The last of the young men charged in connection with the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Philip Ryan Jr. in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood has been sentenced.

Pierce County Superior Court Judge Katherine Stolz sentenced 17-year-old Jasiah Inpeace Tolbert on Monday to a year in prison. Tolbert pleaded guilty to first-degree rendering criminal assistance.

He was among a group with 16-year-old Domunick Marcus Smiley when the teen killed Ryan on Nov. 7.

Judge Susan Serko sentenced Smiley to 21 years, eight months behind bars in June after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

The other two in the group pleaded guilty to first-degree rendering criminal assistance, and were sentenced last week.

Stolz sentenced 20-year-old Arkeats Ross to a year in prison. Judge Kitty-Ann van Doorninck gave 18-year-old Isiah Cavitt two years, two months. Cavitt, who has a prior conviction for second-degree assault, also pleaded guilty to unlawful gun possession.

Prosecutors said the group had been driving on Martin Luther King Jr. Way when Smiley, then 15, had them pull over near South Ninth Street.

Smiley approached a group at a nearby bus stop, and confronted Ryan, who he accused of sexually assaulting a relative of Smiley’s. Prosecutors said at the time there was no evidence Ryan had hurt the family member.

Smiley shot Ryan, who died from his wounds at St. Joseph Medical Center.

Before the sentencings, Ryan’s father, Philip Ryan Sr., wrote the court that his son had helped take care of him, including by cooking meals. He said he’d struggled to leave his house since the shooting.

“My son should have buried me, not the other way around,” he wrote.

This story was originally published September 20, 2016 at 2:40 PM with the headline "Last of 4 sentenced in connection with fatal Hilltop shooting."