75-year-old convicted in road-rage shooting death of Washington man, officials say

A 75-year-old has been convicted of second-degree murder in the 2019 killing of a Washington man, officials said.

A jury found Simeon Berkley guilty Thursday in the shooting of Steven Whitemarsh, 49, following a car accident in Everett in July 2019, Michael Held, chief of staff for the Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, told McClatchy News during a phone interview.

Berkley was acquitted of attempted murder and assault charges in 1991 in another shooting in a San Diego County road rage incident, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Whitemarsh rear-ended Berkley’s Honda Accord around 7 p.m. July 6, 2019, according to Q13. Berkley got out of his car and approached Whitemarsh’s Lincoln Navigator as Whitemarsh remained in the driver’s seat, the Associated Press reported.

Witnesses testified during the four-day trial in Snohomish County Superior Court that the two men briefly had a conversation through Whitemarsh’s window before Berkley shot him in the face and then fired a second shot, according to Q13. Berkley said he shot Whitemarsh in self-defense, the prosecutor’s office said.

Whitemarsh was still buckled in the driver’s seat and he soon was pronounced dead, according to Q13.

When asked on the witness stand why he approached Whitemarsh, a Safeway manager and father of three, with a gun instead of calling the police, Berkley said he didn’t “know what good it would have done,” according to The Everett Herald.

“When you’ve got a crazy guy out there, and you’re having to deal with him, just because you’ve got people around [isn’t] going to change anything,” Berkley testified, according to the publication.

In 1991, an unidentified juror told Berkley to “keep that gun out of your car,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Snohomish County jury did not hear about the case in 1991 under a pretrial agreement, according to the Herald.

Berkley’s sentencing is scheduled for April 16, Held said. Berkley’s lawyer sent a statement to the TV station, saying the outcome would have been different if the jury heard about Whitemarsh’s criminal history.

“We respect the jury’s decision, however had they been able to hear evidence of Mr. Whitemarsh’s 6 prior DUIs and testimony from another man he aggressively stalked in the same neighborhood only two months prior perhaps there would have been a different outcome,” the Law Office of Laura Shaver said in the statement. “The publicity surrounding Mr. Berkley’s history in CA has been disappointing. He was acquitted in a trial 30+ years ago because his life was in danger and he lawfully defended himself. He shouldn’t be re-tried in the media because he had the misfortune of encountering Mr. Whitemarsh.”