Two men previously charged with murder in the death of an off-duty security guard shot outside a lounge on South Tacoma Way have pleaded guilty to lesser offenses due to “very significant proof problems” in the case and been released.
Jerzell Martwon White, 32, pleaded guilty Jan. 28 to third-degree assault for the Sept. 10, 2023, incident in the Night Owl Lounge’s parking lot that left 39-year-old Joseph Briggs dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Keenan David Blakely, 34, pleaded guilty the same day to two counts of third-degree assault.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Susan Adams sentenced White and Blakely to 11 months in the county jail, near the high end of the standard sentencing range. Both men have already served that long in custody and have since been released. They will be on probation for a year.
White’s assault charges accused him of causing bodily harm to Briggs, and Blakely’s charges accused him of harming two women. According to court records, Briggs — who provided security at the bar and club but was not working that night — was helping three women being assaulted by three men before he was shot.
Neither White nor Blakely admitted to attacking the women or Briggs in their guilty-plea statements filed in court records. Instead, they said they were pleading guilty to take advantage of an offer from prosecutors.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Brian Wasankari wrote in a court filing asking the court to accept the amended charges that while most of the incident was captured on video, the shooting itself took place between two vehicles and was not on video.
Other evidence issues included the fact that no firearm was recovered in the police investigation, and a witness who was originally thought to have seen the shooting and who identified Blakely as the shooter later told prosecutors she only saw Blakely assaulting two women. She also did not see Blakely with a firearm.
Another witness who Wasankari said seemed to have a view of the shooting was interviewed in January by prosecutors and the defense, and she could not identify the shooter.
Wasankari also said the assault victims have not responded to interview requests, and Briggs’ mother asked not to be involved with the prosecution.
A spokesperson for the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Adam Faber, said Monday that additional investigation was not likely to overcome those problems. He said prosecutors have asked the Tacoma Police Department to work to identify two other suspects who were at the scene.
In other news out of Superior Court:
Brothers have been sentenced in 2022 Tacoma murder
Two brothers involved in an Eastside Tacoma shooting that killed a 22-year-old woman and wounded her boyfriend have been sentenced.
The younger brother, Keynia James Bullplume, 19, was sentenced Friday to 13 years in state custody after pleading guilty Jan. 9 to second-degree murder and second-degree assault for the March 13, 2022, shooting that killed 22-year-old Alin Valencia-Miranda.
Bullplume was 16 when he shot Valencia-Miranda in the 3800 block of East Howe Street. According to court records, Bullplume’s older brother, Trevor Ross Bullplume, 26, drove them to the scene, where Valencia-Miranda and her boyfriend were sitting in a Lexus. Surveillance video captured the brothers approaching the vehicle, where the younger brother opened fire at the driver’s seat.
Trevor Bullplume pleaded guilty Aug. 5 to first-degree manslaughter and second-degree assault for the incident. According to court records, he was sentenced the same day to nine years, 11 months in prison.
Woman sentenced for manslaughter in 2023 Tacoma shooting
A 20-year-old woman has been sentenced to two years, three months in prison for her part in a fatal shooting outside a Tacoma apartment building in the Hilltop neighborhood.
Audrianna Nashae Young pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and was sentenced Jan. 24 in the shooting that killed Lehman Charrod Tucker. According to court records, a friend of Young, Artavious Magee, shot Tucker, but Young started the argument that led to the gunfire.
Magee was sentenced to 13 years, four months in prison for first-degree manslaughter Jan. 17.
Young was reportedly angry that her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend were expecting a child. The girlfriend later told police she was receiving constant Instagram messages from Young the day of the shooting, April 18, 2023. In one, Young allegedly sent a photo of herself holding a pistol with the caption, “I’m gonna lite that house up.”
Young and Magee went to the apartment where Young’s ex was hanging out with his new girlfriend and Tucker. Young messaged her ex’s girlfriend that she wanted to fight. According to the probable cause document, the girlfriend sent her boyfriend and Tucker to confront her, and then she heard gunshots.
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