3 teenagers sentenced in connection to fatal shooting of 16-year-old in Tacoma
Pierce County Superior Court Judge James Orlando spoke about families Friday before he sentenced three teenagers for the death of another.
“Every one of these young people were special and are special to their family,” he said “But it’s not how they act around their family that leads them to being charged with crimes.”
Orlando sentenced Andre Darrell Gonzalez to 25 years, Sunshine Rain Timmons to 20 years and Treyshawn Donovan Hilton to 10 years for the drive-by shooting that killed 16-year-old Jamone Pratt. Those sentences are what the attorneys recommended considering the age of the defendants and changes in recent years to juvenile justice law.
Gonzalez, 17, and Timmons, 18, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Hilton, 18, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Pratt’s loved ones told the court about the terrible pain they suffered with his loss. They talked about his smile, his laugh and how he could be outspoken and stubborn. He could strike up a conversation with anyone, they said. He was a jokester, had a large extended family and had been a successful volunteer and fundraiser for Relay for Life.
He was killed based on alleged threats, the family told the court, never able to tell his side of what happened.
Charging papers said Gonzalez alleged that, because of a gang dispute, Pratt had threatened to kill Gonzalez and Gonzalez’s unborn child. Timmons was pregnant with the child at the time.
Pratt was hit July 30, 2019 while he was on the porch of a home in the 4600 block of South J Street. Gonzalez fired and Hilton steered the vehicle during the drive-by. Timmons switched seats with Hilton to allow him to steer, gave Gonzalez a gun that was in her purse and encouraged him to shoot at Pratt.
Deputy prosecutor Greg Greer wrote in a sentencing memorandum: “Gang shootings such as this have occurred too often over the years. They fit a predictable pattern involving misguided youth using guns and violence to establish/maintain street credibility, and/or react violently to the concept of ‘disrespect.’ One 16-year-old is dead, and two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old threw their own lives away by murdering him.”
Timmons was 17 and Hilton and Gonzalez were 16 at the time of the shooting.
Defense attorney Paula T. Olson told the court Hilton had shown remorse from her first meeting with him and that he’s haunted by Pratt’s death. He understands the pain of losing a family member, she said, because he previously lost a baby brother.
Olson said her client wants to participate in education and job training while incarcerated. He wants something good to come from the tragedy, she said.
Defense attorney Ann Mahony said Timmons had written a statement that showed her personal growth, but that her client asked her not to read the letter in court.
“... the age, the reckless behavior,” Mahony said. “The intent was foolishly to scare Jamone, except of course it ended in his death. Sunshine accepts that. She can’t change the past, all she can do is try to do better in the future.”
Stephen Johnson, who represented Gonzalez, told the court he thought part of a letter from Gonzalez’s father summed up what happened.
“I as a father understand that both families are suffering beyond measure,” he wrote the court. “The magnitude of this crime was caused by teenagers whom did not clearly think out the consequences. Impulse thinkers influenced by the ongoing Pierce County street life. Good kids, wrong crowds, wrong place, wrong time.”
The father’s letter said he expected there to be consequences for the crime and asked that his son get the chance “to grow, learn, change, rehabilitate and one day conform back into society.”
He signed it: “Andre’s Dad.”
Teachers wrote the court that Gonzalez has focused on school during his time in custody.
During a conversation last month, one teacher wrote, he was impressed that Gonzalez took a moment to tell a student who complained about schoolwork: “You are young, you don’t understand yet. I am learning so one day I can teach my daughter.”
Before handing down the sentences, Judge Orlando talked about other recent gun violence affecting young people in Pierce County and said he thinks there needs to be a dialogue about funding families. Maybe if the conversation was about supporting families facing poverty and other challenges, he said, there’d be some improvement.
Noting Gonzalez’s academic progress, Orlando said some youths serving time in juvenile prison tell him how free they feel when they have access to education and counseling that they didn’t get in society.
“How do we accomplish that in the community while keeping kids safe?” he wondered.
