Accomplice in Lakewood mistaken-identity gang shooting sentenced to decades in prison
A 32-year-old man convicted of helping a fellow gang member plan the retaliatory shooting of a rival in Lakewood that ended with the wrong person dead has been sentenced to 80 years in prison.
Joseph Carl Gioiosa and Justin Coleman planned to shoot the gang member the night of Sept. 28, 2020, because Coleman had been shot and assaulted by the man a month earlier at a party in Olympia, according to prosecutors. When Coleman opened fire on him from a BMW in the parking lot of a Lakewood townhouse, the gangster was unharmed, and a 17-year-old boy in the car behind him was struck in the forehead.
The teen, Damoni Nelson, was critically injured, and he died days later at a Tacoma hospital. Prosecutors said he was identified as a cousin of Coleman’s and Gioiosa’s target, but he wasn’t involved in gangs. Nelson played football and ran track at Federal Way High School. Prosecutors said he’d texted his mother he was on his way home just before the shooting.
Gioiosa was convicted by a jury Nov. 2 of first- and second-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, drive-by shooting and unlawful possession of a firearm following a nine-day trial and just under three hours of deliberations, according to court records. The second-degree murder charge was dismissed at sentencing due to double jeopardy.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Greg Greer wrote in a sentencing brief that the crime at the center of this case was a scenario that repeats itself “over and over” in our community.
“Gang members who value street credibility over all else and have no regard for the law or the sanctity of life,” Greer wrote. “Unfortunately, this will not be the last time this fact pattern plays out in the streets of Tacoma.”
Greer said the shooting put other innocent people at risk, including another of the victim’s cousins who was seated in the car next to him when he was shot.
The punishment Superior Court Judge Edmund Murphy imposed Friday was in line with prosecutors’ recommendation, a low-end sentence within the standard range. The range was so high — 971 to 1,173 months — because murder, attempted murder and first-degree assault are serious violent offenses that each included firearm sentencing enhancements. Multiple convictions for serious violent offenses must be served consecutively rather than tolling at the same time.
Gioiosa has prior criminal convictions dating back to 2007 when he was found guilty in Pierce County of being in possession of a short-barreled shotgun at age 16. He’s also been convicted of first-degree robbery, third-degree theft and violating domestic-violence protection orders.
The gunman in this case, Coleman, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in March last year instead of proceeding to trial. He was sentenced May 6, 2022 to 27 years in prison. According to court records, other charges of first-degree murder, drive-by shooting, first-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
Gioiosa’s defense attorney, Peter Connick, argued that his client should receive a sentence more proportionate to Coleman’s punishment, writing in a sentencing memorandum that “fundamental fairness” under due process should prevent Gioiosa from being charged with a greater crime than the principal defendant, Coleman. He also said Gioiosa shouldn’t be penalized with greater charges for exercising his right to trial.
“The only testimony at trial as to the identity of the shooter was Mr. Gioiosa’s — he specifically denied aiding or assisting the shooter, Mr. Coleman, in the shooting,” Connick wrote.
Prosecutors said evidence admitted at trial showed there were two instances when Gioiosa discussed having shot at or intending to shoot at the rival gang member. The two exchanged Facebook messages weeks before the fatal shooting when prosecutors say Gioiosa told Coleman he’d shot at the man. Gioiosa said he located the gang member along the Ruston Way waterfront days before the murder, but the defendant said there were “too many regulars.”
Lakewood police identified Coleman as a suspect with the help of the state Department of Corrections, according to previous reporting from The News Tribune, and he was arrested a little more than a week after Nelson was shot. Gioiosa was arrested in December 2020.
Surveillance video from an apartment complex four miles from where Nelson was shot showed Coleman and Gioiosa leaving in a BMW nine minutes before the shooting, and records state that footage from the Gravelly Lake Townhouses shows the same vehicle pulling into the parking lot where Nelson was shot one minute before the incident.
