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A Pierce County jury on Thursday found a 51-year-old man guilty of first-degree manslaughter and other offenses for fatally shooting a man who was searching for his ex-girlfriend near the Tacoma Tideflats.
Jurors convicted Kenny Lamont Haymore in the Oct. 1, 2022, shooting of 37-year-old Nicholas Ulugalu. A second defendant, Lawrence Edward Jerry III, 39, pleaded guilty in January to first- and second-degree murder for the incident, as well as first-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Prosecutors had charged Haymore in Superior Court with first- and second-degree murder for the shooting, but jurors found him guilty of the lesser-included offense of first-degree manslaughter. He also was found guilty of two counts of first-degree assault and three counts of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
Haymore is to be sentenced May 2, and Jerry is to be sentenced March 26.
The shooting occurred in the early morning hours on Cleveland Way between the Puyallup River and railroad tracks. According to court documents, Ulugalu was driven to the area by a young woman in a Chevy Impala. Haymore and Jerry confronted Ulugalu after he pounded on a motorhome, yelled his ex-girlfriend’s name and fired a gunshot into the ground.
The Impala driver later told Tacoma police she drove Ulugalu because he was searching for his ex-girlfriend, whom he feared was overdosing, according to prosecutors’ trial brief. She allegedly told police Ulugalu had been on the phone with his ex and had said she was “fading in and out.”
The ex-girlfriend was staying in a motorhome, and its owner told police Ulugalu pounded on his door before the shooting, but he didn’t answer because he feared Ulugalu would hurt the ex-girlfriend. According to the trial brief, the ex had claimed that Ulugalu had held her captive and beat her.
After Ulugalu returned to the Impala, Haymore and Jerry pulled in behind the car in a white truck, according to prosecutors. The Impala driver later told police that the men took Ulugalu’s handgun from him after he told them he was searching for his ex-girlfriend.
Haymore then pointed the handgun at Haymore, according to prosecutors, and shot him multiple times.
Haymore was arrested four days after the shooting. According to prosecutors, a search of a Spanaway residence where he was staying led to the discovery of a 9 mm handgun that fit with an ammo magazine recovered from the crime scene.
Further testing by a Washington State Patrol crime lab determined that the handgun had fired 15 of the bullet casings that were found at the scene, and Haymore’s DNA was found on the gun.
In other news out of Superior Court:
Driver who fled from high-speed wreck that killed girlfriend sentenced
A driver who crashed his truck into oncoming traffic on a rural Pierce County road, then ran from the collision, leaving his 16-year-old girlfriend to die in the passenger’s seat, was sentenced Friday to six-and-a-half years in prison.
Nickolas Levi Mallow Greinke pleaded guilty Friday to DUI vehicular homicide for the Nov. 30, 2023, wreck that killed Zoey M. Wiseman. Judge Grant Blinn sentenced him the same day, handing him a punishment at the low end of the standard sentencing range.
According to court documents, Greinke was driving a pink-and-black Toyota pickup truck south on 8th Avenue South when he collided with a Ford Mustang traveling in the opposite direction at 5:51 p.m in the 33000 block. Witnesses reported that before the wreck, Greinke was speeding, driving erratically and entering oncoming lanes to pass traffic in a no-passing zone.
Wiseman was pronounced dead at the scene, and according to prosecutors’ sentencing memorandum, no identification was located. She was unidentified until a family member reported her as a runaway Dec. 1, 2023.
Prosecutors wrote that Wiseman’s death devastated her loved ones and left her friends heartbroken. She was described as an “exuberant, shining personality, full of light, full life, and love for her friends, family, and loved ones.”
Greinke initially evaded law enforcement. According to prosecutors, law enforcement tried to contact him at his home after the collision, but the residents did not respond, closed the blinds and pretended no one was home. He surrendered at the Pierce County Jail in February 2024, about a week after he was charged in the incident.
A search of Greinke’s pickup found a glass smoking pipe on the driver’s floorboard, according to prosecutors. And a psychologist who evaluated Greinke diagnosed him with cannabis use disorder.
In Greinke’s guilty-plea statement, he said he was pleading guilty to take advantage of the state’s offer. He admitted to driving recklessly and causing Wiseman’s death, but he said he was not under the influence at the time of the wreck.
Former guard at women’s prison near Gig Harbor sentenced for sexual misconduct
A former corrections officer for the Washington Corrections Center for Women near Gig Harbor pleaded guilty Friday to having an inappropriate relationship with an inmate and was sentenced to six months in jail.
Danielle Alexandra Lucas, 33, pleaded guilty to second-degree custodial sexual misconduct, a felony. Judge Philip Sorensen gave her a punishment at the low end of the standard sentencing range. Lucas had no prior criminal history.
According to charging documents, Lucas’ relationship with an inmate began in August 2022 and lasted for a few months before it was discovered by other corrections officers and inmates. A spokesperson for the Department of Corrections previously told The News Tribune that Lucas was placed on home assignment immediately after accusations surfaced and officials contacted the Washington State Patrol.
The DOC launched an internal investigation, but Lucas quit before it was completed, resigning Oct. 3, 2022.
The Washington Corrections Center for Women is a minimum, medium and close security prison with a capacity for 738 inmates north of Gig Harbor.
A State Patrol detective wrote in an investigative report that although the relationship between the inmate and Lucas was consensual, it was still unlawful. The inmate had reason to believe Lucas could influence the terms, conditions or length of her incarceration due to Lucas’ position as an officer.
Graham woman sentenced to prison for fatal pellet gun shooting
A 50-year-old woman who pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter for fatally shooting her boyfriend with a pellet gun near Graham has been sentenced to two years, nine months in prison.
Nicole Lynn Johnson admitted in February to causing 51-year-old Rickey Albers’ death with criminal negligence while armed with a deadly weapon. According to charging documents, Johnson believed Albers was cheating on her and shot him during an argument.
The shooting occurred May 1 at the trailer Johnson and Albers lived in west of Graham.
Judge Karena Kirkendoll imposed Johnson’s punishment March 11, handing her a sentence at the low end of the standard sentencing range, including a 12-month deadly weapon sentencing enhancement. Johnson had no prior felony convictions.
Johnson also was ordered to undergo domestic violence and mental health evaluations and complete any recommended treatment.
Albers was a father to four children, and he had four grandchildren, according to victim impact statements submitted to the court. His mother wrote in an impact statement that Albers was sensitive and loving, and that he had an infectious laugh and was known to be a prankster.
Albers’ father wrote that there was no way to explain the pain and emotional damage that this “unthinkable act” had caused him.
“Since Rick’s murder, our families ‘ lives have been irrevocably altered,” Albers’ father wrote. “The pain and emptiness we feel is overwhelming, and no amount of time will ever heal the void Rick’s murder has created.”
Johnson’s defense attorney from the Department of Assigned Counsel retained a firearms expert while the case was pending to review discovery. According to a sentencing memorandum, the expert was Rick Vasquez, a former employee of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. He gave the opinion that Johnson accidentally discharged the air pellet gun, a Crossman Phantom pellet gun model CS1K77X.
“It is my opinion that she took the air rifle, not having any knowledge that it was loaded, or any knowledge of how it operated or its capabilities, and poked Ricky with it,” Vasquez wrote in an expert witness report. “When she poked him, she erroneously hit/pulled the trigger and shot Ricky.”
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