Local man's murder conviction stands
Friday, December 1, 2006 7:03 AM PST
By Don Jenkins
Printable version
E-mail this articleIn a 5-4 decision, the Washington Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the murder conviction of a Longview man, assuring he will spend the rest of his life in prison for slaying his mother in 2000.
Donovan Allen, then 18, strangled and clubbed to death Sharon Cox, 49, at her home on 33rd Avenue. Allen told a police detective he argued with his mother and "went ballistic." He said he rashly killed Cox and took a cashbox from the home, but threw the box into a slough when he came to his senses and returned to the house and called 911.
A jury found Allen guilty of aggravated first-degree murder, automatically condemning him to a life sentence. To reach the verdict, jurors had to conclude the murder was premeditated and that Allen was also guilty of robbery.
In his appeal seeking a new trial, Allen didn't deny killing his mother, but he argued there wasn't enough evidence to prove he planned the killing in order to carry out a robbery.
Writing for the slim majority, Justice Tom Chambers said the evidence showed Allen assaulted Cox over an "appreciable amount of time," suggesting he intended to kill her.
Allen initially choked Cox with a telephone cord. When the cord snapped, he fetched a rifle from a cabinet and struck Cox in the back of the head, according to court records.
As for the robbery, witnesses testified that Allen was perpetually at odds with his mother over money and that she had refused to give him $400 to buy a car. Allen talked about the cashbox before the murder and afterward said he had taken about $1,100 and spent it, witnesses said.
"We find considerable circumstantial evidence that Allen used force, at least in part, to obtain the cashbox," Chambers wrote.
Chambers also rejected Allen's appeal for a new trial because a prosecutor violated a pretrial order to steer clear of a witness statement that Allen said he had "killed before and could kill again." Chambers said the statement did not deprive Allen of a fair trial, even though the witness said he didn't know if Allen was referring to killing his mother.
Justices Barbara Madsen, Bobbe Bridge, Mary Fairhurst and Jim Johnson signed Chambers' majority opinion.
In the dissenting opinion, Chief Justice Gerry Alexander said the prosecution's own theory that the murder was the culmination of a long-simmering feud contradicted the idea that Allen killed to steal.
Taking the cashbox appeared to be an afterthought, Alexander wrote. "There is a lack of evidence that Allen intended to steal the cashbox before he killed his mother, or that his purpose in mortally wounding her was to facilitate theft."
Justices Charles Johnson, Richard Sanders and Susan Owens signed Alexander's dissent.
Allen is serving his life sentence at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
If jurors had found Allen guilty of premediated murder but not robbery, he would have faced up to 26 years and eight months in prison.
Allen nearly got off with a lighter sentence than that.
Allen's first trial ended in a hung jury. That jury rejected convicting Allen of premeditated murder and robbery, and deadlocked 10-2 in favor of finding him guilty of second-degree murder. If convicted of that lesser crime, Allen would have faced up to 18 years and four months in prison.
Prosecutors retried Allen and obtained the life sentence they sought. At both trials, defense attorneys argued that police coerced Allen into making a false confession.
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