Yakima County prosecutors say a woman strangled a man to death with her bare hands in a gang-related crime.
But a defense attorney said the 24-year-old woman was defending herself and two other women during the Sunday morning incident at a North Ninth Street apartment.
The woman was booked into the Yakima County jail Monday on suspicion of second-degree murder and second-degree assault in the death of Hector Felix.
The Yakima Herald-Republic typically does not publish the names of criminal suspects until they are formally charged.
An autopsy determined that Felix, 26, died as a result of strangulation, Chief Deputy Yakima County Coroner Marshall Slight said Monday. Felix's death has been ruled a homicide, the sixth this year in the city and 11th in the county.
Yakima police were called to Felix's apartment in the 100 block of North Ninth Street, where three women said they had been assaulted by a man, but one of them "got him," according to a probable cause affidavit filed by police.
Officers responding to the apartment found Felix unconscious surrounded by signs of a fight. He was declared dead at the scene after officers and paramedics performed CPR for a half-hour.
The suspect and two other women said they met Felix at a bar, and he invited them over to his apartment afterward, the affidavit said.
At the apartment, after a couple drinks and listening to music, the suspect and Felix got into a "rap battle" during which she said Felix began rapping about his Sureño gang membership and asked the women if they were gang members.
During Monday's preliminary appearance in Yakima County Superior Court, Deputy Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Nicholas Barrett said the case appears to be a gang assault as the suspect was affiliated with a rival Norteño gang.
Barrett, arguing for a $1 million bail, said the woman's statements to detectives were "deceitful."
The suspect told detectives that she and the other woman felt uncomfortable when Felix began throwing up gang signs and tried to leave. As they were heading out, she said Felix tried to stop them, saying he was armed with a gun, and pushed one of the women to the floor, the affidavit said.
Detectives said the suspect went back and forth between saying Felix was choking the woman or had his hands on her chest to hold her down, the affidavit said.
She said she grabbed Felix by his hoodie and "choked him out" with the sweatshirt until he passed out, the affidavit said. She said Felix had a pulse when they left the apartment.
One of the women said that Felix tried to stop them, but not physically, the affidavit said. She then said Felix grabbed her by the throat and pushed her to the ground when she tried to break up the argument between Felix and the suspect, the affidavit said, along with the other woman before the suspect strangled him.
That woman also said Felix was not armed, the affidavit said.
Defense attorney Beth Wehrkamp said that the suspect would be invoking a defense that she was defending herself and others, and that $1 million bail was excessive. The suspect has a prior conviction for residential burglary.
Felix, at the time of his death, was out on pretrial release awaiting trial on a charge of felony violation of a no-contact order. He is also a documented Sureño gang member, according to court documents.
While Judge Elisabeth Tutsch said she had grave concerns about community safety, which justified a $1 million bail.
