People

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Tacoma News Tribune staff writer Adam Lynn reported on Thursday July 14, 2011 about the accidental shooting death of Code Enforcement Officer Lisa Melancon. This is another one of those inexplicable freak occurrences where a firearm is discharged and the person who is killed was not the apparent target. What started out as an argument and the exchange of nasty text messages between two teenage females spiraled out of control and involved male acquaintances of both of them wherein a fight ensued between the guys [Jordan Kudla and Manny Castillo], which was next door to Melacon. Olujimi Blakeney, a friend of Castillo’s fired a round in the air to break up the fight, after previously pointing it at Kudla’s mother [who was hitting her son and Castillo with a baseball bat to get them to stop fighting] and allegedly threatened to kill her, fled from the scene of the altercation in Herman Jackson’s car and pointed his revolver outside the passenger-side window and fired blindly as he was making his getaway.

The bullet struck Melancon in the head, who had gone outside on the front porch of their house to call her husband back inside because he had gone out to see what was going on. City of Tacoma Deputy Prosecutor Jerry Costello wants to charge Olujimi Blakeney with First Degree Murder because he says the perpetrator [Blakeney] showed an extreme “indifference” to human life. In order to satisfy the legal requirement for “Murder in the First” the Prosecution must prove: (1) A person is guilty of murder in the first degree when: (a) With premeditated intent to cause the death of another person, he or she causes the death of such person or of a third person; or (b) Under circumstances manifesting an extreme “indifference” to human life, he or she engages in {conduct which creates a grave risk of death} to any person, and thereby causes the death of the person [RCW 9A.32.030]. Most likely, the Deputy PA will seek to prove part (b).

There is however, another provision in the Criminal Law Code of Washington State which could also meet the requirement for unlawful conduct, namely, Murder in the Second Degree: (1) A person is guilty of murder in the second degree when: (a) With intent to cause the death of another person but without premeditation, he or she causes the death of such person or of a third person; or (b) He or she commits or attempts to commit any felony, including assault, other than those enumerated in RCW 9A.32.030(1)(c), and, in furtherance of such crime or in immediate flight therefrom, he or she, or another participant, causes the death of a person “other than” one of the participants; except that in any prosecution under this subdivision (1)(b) in which the defendant was not the only participant in the underlying crime, if established by the defendant by a preponderance of the evidence, it is a defense that the defendant. . . [RCW 9A.32.050]

Mr. Costello may have his work cut out for him to prove the higher threshold of Murder in the First because he has to provide evidence which shows that Blakeney engaged in “conduct which creates a grave risk of death” and explain what the legal definition of that phrase means. On the other hand, it would seem that based upon the information that has come out so far and not having access to the Charging Documents, the crime of Second Degree Murder is a much stronger case because Blakeney was (1) involved in the commission of a felony [assault]; (2) he took immediate flight from the scene [extending or furthering the crime]; (3) and his discharge of a firearm caused the death [accidental] of someone [Lisa Melancon] who was not involved in the original assault [allegedly threatening Mrs. Kudla]. Even the possession of a revolver by Olujimi Blakeney is most likely a felony because he may have had a prior felony conviction on some other charge. Be that as it may, it is so sad and such a tragedy when something like this happens because it is sudden, unexpected and is forever; live for all the families involved in this tragic event will never be the same.


Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
July 15, 2011
[email protected]

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