‘He didn’t deserve to die.’ Teenager sentenced for murder in set-up robbery near Puyallup
A 19-year-old man who admitted to fatally shooting another teenager in South Hill in a set-up robbery during a marijuana transaction was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years, 10 months in state custody.
Joseph M. Lizarraga-Ortiz pleaded guilty in Pierce County Superior Court in November to first-degree murder and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm in the Jan. 28, 2023, killing of 19-year-old Wesley Jose Molinero Dominguez.
Another teenager involved in the homicide, Antonio Adan Yescas, 19, is expected to be sentenced Feb. 7. He pleaded guilty in November to first-degree manslaughter and first-degree attempted robbery. Prosecutors have recommended he be sentenced to nearly 13 years.
Both defendants were 17 at the time of the shooting. In Washington, young people sentenced for crimes committed before they are 18 go to juvenile rehabilitation in the custody of the Department of Children, Youth and Families until age 25 when they would transfer to the Department of Corrections.
The shooting occurred during a particularly bad year for youth violence in Pierce County when 17 people aged 25 and under died by homicide, according to The News Tribune’s homicide records. Overall homicides have continued to decline since hitting a peak in 2022, but killings among young people have remained a problem. Another 11 people aged 25 and under were killed throughout the county in 2024.
The sentence Judge Stanley Rumbaugh imposed was at the low end of the standard sentencing range for defendants prosecuted in similar cases, about 20 to 27 years. Prosecutors and the defense agreed to recommend that length of punishment. According to court records, the defendant had no prior felony convictions.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Thomas Howe said in court Wednesday that a legitimate case could have been made to charge the case as an aggravated murder. If Lizarraga-Ortiz had been convicted of that charge, he would have faced a minimum 25-year sentence and a maximum possible sentence of life in prison.
Prosecutors also dismissed a firearm sentencing enhancement as part of a plea agreement. Howe wrote in a court filing that the resolution was meant to balance the fact that the state had a very strong case with the defendant’s age at the time of the crime and the fact that the defendant indicated early on that he wanted to resolve the case short of trial.
Before Lizarraga-Ortiz was sentenced, the victim’s sister, Mileyva Molinera Dominguez, 25, addressed the court. She told the judge her heart had been shattered beyond repair because of her brother’s death, and her life has been consumed by grief.
Wesley Molinero Dominguez was a loyal friend and an incredible brother, his sister said, and he was someone she knew she could always turn to.
“Wesley is gone. Not by accident, but by the hands of someone he trusted,” Mileyva Molinera Dominguez said. “He didn’t deserve to die. Not now. Not ever. Especially by the hands of someone he called a friend.”
After court adjourned, Mileyva Molinera Dominguez told The News Tribune that her brother grew up in the Tacoma area and attended Rogers High School, which was less than a half mile from where the shooting occurred.
According to charging documents, Wesley Molinero Dominguez and Yescas messaged each other on Instagram prior to the shooting, arranging for Yescas to buy $90 worth of marijuana from Molinero Dominguez.
When Molinero Dominguez and his girlfriend arrived at the location, two men in black clothing and ski masks — later identified as Lizarraga-Ortiz and Yescas — approached their vehicle and demanded everything they had, the girlfriend later told Sheriff’s Department investigators.
When Lizarraga-Ortiz and Yescas approached, Molinero Dominguez reportedly said, “Joseph, you’re not going to shoot me. You’re my friend,” according to court records. Lizarraga-Ortiz responded by shooting him.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call from the victim’s girlfriend at about 6:47 p.m. Molinero Dominguez was found in the car bleeding, and he died in an ambulance on the way to a hospital. The Pierce County medical examiner later found he died of a gunshot wound to the head.
Lizarraga-Ortiz’s defense attorney from the Department of Assigned Counsel, Travis Currie, said Wednesday that nothing could be done in court that would give justice to the victim’s family. He asked Rumbaugh to consider his client’s history, the facts of the case and his age when deciding on a sentence.
When it was the defendant’s turn to speak, he stood and said he wanted to apologize and take full responsibility for his actions.
“The only person I blame is myself,” Lizarraga-Ortiz said.
Before Rumbaugh announced the sentence, the judge said he didn’t buy that the murder was an impetuous act, but to some degree the offense could be seen as a consequence of the defendant’s many adverse childhood experiences.
Lizarraga-Ortiz was born addicted to methamphetamine, the judge said, and his biological parents essentially abandoned him, leaving him to be raised by adoptive parents. He was also jumped into a gang at an early age, according to Rumbaugh, and he was highly susceptible to peer pressure. Rumbaugh said that wasn’t a justification for the offense, it was context.
Outside the courtroom, Mileyva Molinera Dominguez said she thought Rumbaugh had given the defendant a fair sentence, but she felt there will never be justice no matter the number.
“He could have been there for life. It’s not going to bring my brother back,” Mileyva Molinera Dominguez said.
