Whether the killing of a plainclothes detective was a premeditated attack or lawful self-defense is in the hands of a Clark County jury following closing arguments Monday in the murder trial of Guillermo Raya Leon.
Neither side disputes that Raya Leon, 28, fatally shot Clark County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jeremy Brown while catching the detective by surprise as he sat in an unmarked SUV about 6:40 p.m. on July 23, 2021.
Brown, 46, was surveilling the Vancouver apartment where Ray Leon, his brother and his brother’s wife were hiding $30,000 worth of stolen firearms and ammunition after eluding police during a pursuit on Interstate 5 earlier that day.
Prosecuting Attorney Tony Golik said the evidence of a pre-planned attack was clear: Raya Leon put on a hoodie to disguise his appearance, despite the heat, and selected a .357 revolver from the cache of guns because it had larger caliber bullets and wouldn’t spit out casings that could be used as evidence.
Raya Leon and his two accomplices then abandoned the weaponry trove and fled in an SUV that soon crashed, Golik said. While the two others were captured, Raya Leon managed to burglarize a house, swipe a set of car keys and remained on the run for two more days before his arrest, he said.
“These are not the actions of someone who acted in self defense,” Golik said. “These are the actions of someone who hasn’t given up yet.”
Defense attorney Therese Lavallee said she would not contest many of the charges, including that Raya Leon was trafficking in stolen firearms and stole a car to escape the manhunt.
But she claimed Raya Leon had not planned to kill Brown, and only pulled the trigger because the sergeant fired first. She said it made no sense for someone planning an “ambush” to approach Brown’s driver side door.
“Jeremy Brown was startled — and yes, he was in a horrible, compromised position. And knowing that he drew his weapon. But he never announced, ‘Police, you’re under arrest,’ What he did was rotate his body, stretching his gun outside the window,” Lavallee said.
Raya Leon then fired a single shot, striking Brown in the back and piercing his heart, she said.
While Raya Leon did not take the stand in his own defense, the jury of 11 women and 3 men, including two alternates who will be dismissed prior to deliberations, will weigh a tearful recorded interview entered into evidence, which was taken after Raya Leon’s arrest in Salem, when he was coming down from a drug high and was roused from sleep by detectives.
During the interview, Raya Leon said he didn’t know who fired first. Lavallee called that his “honest answer” at the time, and said the jury could rely on the defense’s expert witnesses who attempted to sequence the order of gunfire.
Golik said there was no scientific way to know who fired first and dismissed the defense’s experts as motivated by their hefty appearance fees.
Raya Leon’s brother, Abran Raya Leon, was convicted and sentenced to 27 years in August. Abran Raya Leon’s wife, Misty Leon, remains in custody pending trial.
Presiding Judge Derek Vanderwood has denied several defense motions for a mistrial, The Columbian newspaper reported, including when prosecutors inadvertently exposed the jury to evidence suggesting Raya Leon was a suspect in a separate attempted murder case.
