Years after he last took a life, Tacoma man sentenced again for deadly gunfight
A man who executed a one-time friend and old codefendant during a shootout in the backyard of an Eastside Tacoma home where he, his brother and two other people were wounded was sentenced Thursday to 70 years, four months in prison.
The lengthy sentence Pierce County Superior Court Judge Alicia Marie Burton imposed was in part to do with the recidivism of Kacy James Estes. He shot and killed 38-year-old Alejandro Lloret just 13 days after the Department of Corrections’ monitoring of Estes ceased, and about 13 years after Estes last took another person’s life in Tacoma.
That was 2009. Estes, then 19, fatally shot 29-year-old Crystal Rhoads at an apartment in the Salishan neighborhood and injured her boyfriend. Estes claimed he acted in self-defense after the boyfriend pointed a gun at him during a meth-fueled argument, and he pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and other offenses.
Two other people pleaded guilty to their involvement in that crime, including Lloret. He admitted to first-degree rendering criminal assistance for helping Estes after the homicide.
In January 2022, Estes reemerged into society at age 32 with a welding degree from Walla Walla Community College and multiple certificates from rehabilitative programs at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center.
In a matter of minutes on June 26, 2022, during a chaotic gunfight, the actions of Estes led him back to prison. He follows his older brother, Jacy Joe Estes, who was sentenced in February last year to 11 years in prison for his part in the shooting. Jacy Estes pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault for the shooting of Lloret’s wife, first-degree burglary and unlawful possession of a firearm for his part in the shooting.
Kacy Estes argued self-defense and went to trial in February. In March, a jury found him guilty of first- and second-degree murder, first-degree assault and first-degree burglary, all with firearm sentencing enhancements. He pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm. The court also found the offenses were aggravated by his rapid recidivism.
The jury panel also found Kacy Estes not guilty of first-degree assault for the shooting of Lloret’s wife and not guilty of first-degree assault for the shooting of Anthony Escacerga.
Prosecutors say brothers brought terror to victim’s home
In court Thursday, with about two dozen people watching from the gallery, Burton heard two different stories about what happened in the 900 block of East 52nd Street.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Sven Nelson said the Estes brothers brought “terror” to Lloret’s home. Kacy Estes’ defense attorney, Bryan Hershman, said none of the violence would have happened if not for the contributions of the other people at the house.
While neither prosecutors nor the defense could say with certainty why anyone had lethal intentions, there were plenty of theories.
“We will likely never know, really, what all transpired,” Nelson said in court. “Only Kacy and Jacy, I think, really know what was happening there. Did it relate to that homicide 13 years earlier? Was there an ongoing dispute with Jacy and Anthony Escacerga? Or was it just as Josh, the 13-year-old, said — the Estes brothers often get drunk and come over to mess with him.”
What is known, Nelson said, is that Lloret is dead because — although armed with two handguns — he didn’t pull a firearm that night when almost everyone else did. Nelson said Lloret showed restraint, and it likely cost him his life.
Nelson said Kacy Estes led the way into the home, armed and without knocking. Videos showed the horror on Lloret’s wife’s face when the brothers entered the backyard and she saw the guns, according to Nelson. He said there were two young children at the home and the teenager, and the wife begged the brothers to leave.
The effect this crime had on the children was part of the reason Nelson said he was asking the court for a punishment at the high end of the standard sentencing range. Nelson said the oldest child witnessed his father figure shot over a dozen times and killed.
It’s unclear where each of those bullets came from. The defense said it was largely “friendly fire.” Nelson said there was testimony from the medical examiner that the first nine shots might not have killed Lloret if he had gotten medical aid, and if not for Kacy Estes’ execution of the man.
“He walked over and with premeditation shot Alejandro in the head three separate times,” Nelson said. “That’s why Mr. Estes deserves … a high-end sentence on this case.”
After Nelson spoke, the judge heard from Lloret’s sister-in-law, Tamara Lloret. She said she was there representing Lloret’s parents, siblings, children and wife. She spoke of the grief all of them live with, the trauma the children have endured and the many chances she said had been wasted on Kacy Estes.
Tamara Lloret said her brother in law, known as Alex to the family, was devoted to his family and was an active father. She said it angered her that Kacy Estes had taken from them the chance to see him, hold him and say goodbye in peace.
“Now our family will reach every milestone of this life with an empty chair where Alex should be today, and at the same time will carry the memory of Alex’s murder for the rest of our lives,” Tamara Lloret said. “This is the legacy he has forced upon the innocent generations of our family.”
Tamara Lloret asked Burton to impose a life sentence and said the family was asking not for vengeance but protection.
“He left us with a life sentence, and we ask for the same in return,” she said.
After Tamara Lloret spoke, a number of people rose in the gallery and held framed photos of Alejandro Lloret and his family above their heads.
Defense says there’s fault on both sides
As Hershman set out to request a sentence of less than 20 years, he told Burton he wanted her to make her decision with accurate information, and he laid out 20 facts he said could not be denied.
The reason Kacy Estes came over the night of the shooting, Hershman said, was to take a man known as “Ponyboy” out for cocktails. According to court documents, a witness told police that the Estes brothers came to the home earlier in the day to ask if Ponyboy was home and left when told he wasn’t there.
Even then, Hershman said, a deadly force was being formed against the brothers.
“Testimony … was that on the first occasion of Jacy and Kacy appearing at the house [Alejandro Lloret] was standing behind the door with his handgun out, against his chest.”
Hershman said a witness also testified that Lloret made a statement to the effect of, “I should have killed them.” Another man whom Hershman said was buying drugs from Ponyboy later displayed a 9 mm handgun with an extended clip. According to Hershman, the man said if the brothers came back they were going to “get them.”
The defense attorney said he couldn’t confirm it, but he’d submit that there was a “love triangle” between Lloret, his wife and Ponyboy that led to violence.
When Kacy Estes entered the home later that night, Hershman said he did so calmly and made no threats. In the backyard, Hershman said his client saw Lloret using methamphetamine, and he saw Escacerga put his hand on his gun.
“My client clearly said, in a soft tone of voice: ‘Tell your boy to get his hand off his gun,’ and the like,” Hershman said. “These requests of Mr. Lloret were not just denied. Seemingly the response of Mr. Lloret was to encourage the conduct of the person with whom my client had great fear.”
Gunfire didn’t break out until Lloret’s wife bear-maced the brothers, Hershman said, citing trial testimony (prosecutors wrote in their trial brief that the mace was deployed after the brothers pointed their guns).
During the shooting, he said both Estes brothers were struck twice. Hershman said Kacy begged his brother to get up but had to drive away and was shot at while he did so.
“I’m asking the judge to do the only fair thing in this courtroom,” Hershman said. “To acknowledge that there’s fault on both sides, sadly. That this would not have happened but for the involvement of the people in that home.”
When it was Kacy Estes’ turn to speak, he said he wanted to express his deepest apology to the Lloret family. He said he shared a friendship with the man, and he would never stop wishing that night ended differently.
Kacy Estes said what happened unfolded in seconds. Bear-maced and shot, he said he was overwhelmed by fear and confusion, and he fired his weapon because he believed his life and the life of his brother were in danger. He said he failed to fully consider the consequences, and that failure cost his friend his life. He asked Burton for mercy.
“I never would have gone to that home if I had known that my brother, Jacy, was not welcome there,” Kacy Estes said. “Nothing about that night was planned. I was not looking for trouble. I was building a life, working, saving to buy a home, spending time with my family, and being present with people I love.”
Before Burton imposed Kacy Estes’ sentence, she said mercy had an important place in the justice system, but that it could not come at the expense of accountability.
“The evidence established that the defendant armed himself unlawfully, went uninvited to the victim’s residence, entered without invitation, initiated the confrontation in the backyard, and ultimately shot Alejandro at a time when Alejandro no longer possessed a threat,” Burton said.
