A mother and infant were killed in Pierce County wreck. Now driver is sentenced

Yahoo

5 hours ago

A man who sped into oncoming traffic in Lakewood at upwards of 83 mph and drove his van over a sedan occupied by a family of four — killing a woman and her infant child — was sentenced Friday to about 12 years in prison.
Shaun Duane Lakey, 34, was convicted in a jury trial in June of two counts of DUI vehicular homicide and DUI vehicular assault for the Sept. 22, 2023 collision at the intersection of Lakewood Drive and 74th Street West.
Maria Luisa Huecias, 29, and Liam Joel Morales Huecias, 1, were killed as a result of the wreck. The woman's husband, Christian Morales Tirado, and his 7-year-old daughter were injured.
Lakey had cannabis in his system, according to Pierce County Superior Court records, and he made nonsensical comments to emergency responders at the scene about being a monk and reaching nirvana. A witness also reported seeing him laugh and giggle while the driver of the vehicle he struck tried to help his wife.
Prosecutors wrote in court filings that Lakey was on the phone with a woman he referred to as his girlfriend when he was driving, and he told police he felt his vehicle drifting toward a car, but he just closed his eyes and let 'it take its course.' The woman later told Lakewood police Lakey made odd comments on the phone, and she thought he was having a psychotic break or high on something and experiencing 'a terrible acid trip.'
Lakey told police he'd used LSD in the past, but blood testing did not detect the drug in his system, only marijuana. A toxicology report showed that a little more than two hours after the wreck Lakey had 2.4 nanograms per milliliter of THC in his system, which is the psychoactive component of marijuana. The legal limit for motorists is 5 nanograms per milliliter.
The collision occurred just before 10 p.m. as the family of four was returning home from Mary Bridge Children's Hospital, according to prosecutors, where the family had gone to get help for Liam, who was sick with a fever.
Lakey was southbound on Lakewood Drive, and witnesses reported that the light was red at 74th Street when he swerved through the intersection into the opposite lanes of travel and struck the family's Honda sedan. Police later calculated that he was going between 83 and 98 mph. The Honda's roof caved in and was pried off as Lakey drove over it. The van went onto its side, slid more than 400 feet and caught fire.
Prosecutors said dozens of strangers went to the two vehicles to help.
Lakey was taken to a hospital for an injury to his arm and was booked into jail early the next morning. According to prosecutors, Lakey claimed in phone calls he made from jail that his vehicle's exhaust and brake lines had been tampered with, but a forensic mechanic who evaluated the van found no such issues that caused the collision.
'Defendant Lakey ignored the wellbeing of everyone else on the roadway and chose to drive while actively hallucinating from the drugs he had taken,' deputy prosecuting attorney Miriam Norman wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
Judge Sabrina Ahrens sentenced Lakey, giving him a high-end sentence at the recommendation of prosecutors. Lakey had no prior felony convictions.
In other news out of Superior Court
Teen pleads guilty to manslaughter in fatal shooting of Tacoma boy
A teenager pleaded guilty Friday for his part in the death of a 15-year-old Tacoma boy who was shot during a gun transaction that led to a fatal 'tug-of-war' over the firearm.
Ziair Armani-Lee Gilbert, 17, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter for the Sept. 14, 2024 homicide of Moses Tillman in the city's Eastside neighborhood.
A second person charged in the shooting, a 16-year-old boy, pleaded guilty Aug. 1 in Juvenile Court to second-degree manslaughter with a firearm sentencing enhancement and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
Gilbert and the 16-year-old were originally charged with first- and second-degree murder, which meant they would automatically be prosecuted as adults due to their ages and the seriousness of those charges. The News Tribune generally only names juveniles in connection to a crime if they are charged as an adult. The 16-year-old's case was moved to Juvenile Court when his charges were amended.
A sentencing hearing for both defendants was set for Aug. 22.
It's unclear who fired the fatal shots. A spokesperson for the Prosecuting Attorney's Office said numerous shell casings were found at the scene, and they can't say with certainty who fired which shots.
According to court records, Tacoma Police Department detectives learned through Instagram messages sent between Tillman and one of the defendants that Tillman and his cousin were meeting up with the two to buy a gun.
In an interview with detectives, the cousin told police Tillman was going to trade a gun and $300 for another firearm. The cousin reportedly said one of the suspects grabbed the gun from under Tillman's arm and took it, which led to a 'tug-of-war' situation before Tillman was shot.
Detectives obtained search warrants for the 16-year-old's Facebook and Instagram accounts, which showed that Gilbert posted 90 minutes after the homicide about a firearm he'd obtained, which detectives noted was a 9 mm handgun. DNA taken from expended 9 mm shell casings found at the scene were also linked to two people, including Gilbert as a 'possible association.'
Final defendant sentenced for murder, robbery of woman at Puyallup park
The last of three young men convicted in the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old woman in Puyallup during an apparently random robbery attempt was sentenced Friday to 17-and-a-half years in state custody.
Dae'Meion Carmello Purdy, 19, pleaded guilty in July to second-degree murder and second-degree assault for the Feb. 25, 2024 killing of Gianna Stone.
Purdy and Noah Loyd-Branch were driven to Sam Peach Park by Ethan Nordgren. Purdy was 17 at the time, and Loyd-Branch and Nordgren were 18.
According to charging documents, Stone was with other people at the park in a BMW when the defendants approached the vehicle and pulled out handguns. They demanded the group's property, and Purdy and Loyd-Branch fired shots while the driver drove off.
One bullet went through the back of the BMW and struck Stone in the head.
Loyd-Branch and Nordgren were sentenced in May to about nine years and seven years, respectively, in state custody. Both pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, and Loyd-Branch additionally pleaded guilty to second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
Purdy will begin serving his sentence in juvenile rehabilitation in the custody of the Department of Children, Youth and Families until age 25 when he would transfer to the Department of Corrections.