‘He couldn’t stop stabbing.’ Trio sentenced in 2020 fatal robbery of Bonney Lake man
The last men accused of being part of a plan to attack and rob a man of methamphetamine in Bonney Lake — which ended with the victim stabbed to death — have been sentenced.
Brody Nelson and Julian Leong were sentenced Friday in Pierce County Superior Court for the September 2020 robbery and killing of 47-year-old Richard Gene Wilt. According to charging documents, they and Donovan Bateman were looking for someone to rob and chose Wilt because they believed he had been involved with Nelson’s ex-girlfriend.
Judge Grant Blinn sentenced Nelson to 10 years, five months in prison for first-degree manslaughter and first-degree robbery. Leong was sentenced by Judge Susan Adams to nine years, two months in prison for first-degree attempted robbery. Both men pleaded guilty to those charges.
Bateman, the youngest of the three defendants, was sentenced last month to 20 years, 5 months for second-degree murder. He pleaded guilty in August.
He stabbed the victim multiple times after a fight broke out between Wilt and Nelson. In court filings, defense attorney Paula Olson wrote that when Bateman, 21, and Nelson, 28, went to Wilt’s home, the men only intended to rob the victim of drugs and cash and “teach him a lesson” about an alleged sexual exploitation of Nelson’s ex-girlfriend.
“[Bateman] had no sense that his actions were fatal to Mr. Wilt until later,” Olson wrote. “His only explanation and understanding is that the meth overtook him and he couldn’t stop stabbing.”
During a psychological evaluation, Bateman said the methamphetamine he took the morning of the murder made him “go crazy.” He said it was the first time he had taken the drug, and he didn’t know how it would interact with other substances he was using, including Xanax, alcohol and marijuana.
The robbery and stabbing occurred early the morning of Sept. 14, 2020 outside Wilt’s home on 202nd Avenue East. Records say Bateman and Leong went to Nelson’s house around midnight the night before and started talking about who they could rob for money and drugs. After deciding on Wilt, Nelson texted the victim to set up a drug deal, and the men went to his house.
The victim’s roommates spotted two of the men outside before the attack, and one later told police Wilt handed him his phone and said he’d be right back.When Wilt came back inside, his roommate noticed he’d been stabbed and called 911. Police arrived and found the victim unresponsive in a chair. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Detectives tracked the men to the parking garage of an Auburn casino after video surveillance from the neighborhood showed a GMC Yukon picking up two men near the victim’s house. Blood was on a door handle and an armrest of the vehicle, records say.
The three men were arrested. According to the probable cause document, a warrant was out for Bateman’s arrest at the time of the homicide, and Leong was out on bail for an unrelated robbery.
Police also allegedly recovered a cell phone and bag of meth on Bateman. Investigators believed they were stolen from the victim.
