Free Republic

Darcus Allen, the getaway driver in the murder of four Lakewood police officers in November 2009, was sentenced Friday to 420 years in prison.The getaway driver in the murder of four Lakewood police officers was sentenced Friday to 420 years in prison. Pierce County Judge Frederick Flemming imposed the maximum possible sentence on Darcus D. Allen, a 39-year-old Arkansas native who was found guilty of first-degree murder last month for acting as the getaway driver for shooter Maurice Clemmons. Before sentencing, Allen turned to Kim Renninger, widow of slain Sgt. Mark Renninger and held his arms wide.

TACOMA — A Pierce County jury on Thursday found Darcus Allen guilty of first-degree murder for acting as the getaway driver for Maurice Clemmons, who gunned down four Lakewood police officers in November 2009. Allen, 40, a former Arkansas prisonmate of Clemmons, was convicted of four counts of premeditated first-degree murder, charges that required prosecutors to show that he was in on Clemmons' plan. Allen had denied knowing that Clemmons planned to ambush police. Jurors had deliberated for about a week before returning the verdict. Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said he would seek four life sentences for Allen. He...

TACOMA, Wash. — Authorities have charged four people with aiding the man accused of killing four Washington state police officers and plan on indicting two more in what investigators call a network of friends and relatives that helped Maurice Clemmons avoid capture. Rickey Hinton, 47, pleaded not guilty Thursday at his arraignment to three counts of first-degree rendering criminal assistance. Pierce County Superior Court Judge Frederick Flemming ordered him held on $2 million bail. Court documents accuse Hinton, Clemmons' half brother, of lying to police Sunday when they stopped him for questioning near the property owned by Clemmons where Hinton...