Man pleads not guilty in 1989 Tacoma murder
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TACOMA, Wash. -- Dontese White is 38.
He was just 16 back in 1989 when he used to hang out at 21st and South l. Back then, it was a drug-dealing corner. And 22 years ago, a woman was shot and killed here.
Police now believe it was White who pulled the trigger. He has been charged with murder.
The corner used to be gang-controlled. It was not a safe place to be at 2:15 on a Saturday morning. Kathleen Graham was there on Dec. 30. She was with her boyfriend, in a car, when she was shot.
Graham was a mother of five. Her family back then wanted answers, justice.
"I I got really mad," said Graham's daughter. "I wanted to get a machine gun and mow them all down."
Prosecutors say a recent crack down on gangs led to a tip, and led to White's arrest. He entered a not guilty plea on Thursday.
Outside the courtroom, White's father said his son already served time for murder.
"The man's done 20 years in the penitentiary. They're going to wait 18 years and charge him again? This is a witch hunt," father Bobby White said.
But the time he's already served was for a different case, according to deputy prosecutor Phil Sorenson.
"That was a murder than happened three years after this charge; a different killing, different part of the city of Tacoma," Sorenson said. "He has to be held accountable for the crimes he committed then and now."
The judge seemed to agree with the prosecutor. Prosecutors requested bail be set at $2 million, and the judge set it at $3 million.
No trial date has been set.
He was just 16 back in 1989 when he used to hang out at 21st and South l. Back then, it was a drug-dealing corner. And 22 years ago, a woman was shot and killed here.
Police now believe it was White who pulled the trigger. He has been charged with murder.
The corner used to be gang-controlled. It was not a safe place to be at 2:15 on a Saturday morning. Kathleen Graham was there on Dec. 30. She was with her boyfriend, in a car, when she was shot.
Graham was a mother of five. Her family back then wanted answers, justice.
"I I got really mad," said Graham's daughter. "I wanted to get a machine gun and mow them all down."
Prosecutors say a recent crack down on gangs led to a tip, and led to White's arrest. He entered a not guilty plea on Thursday.
Outside the courtroom, White's father said his son already served time for murder.
"The man's done 20 years in the penitentiary. They're going to wait 18 years and charge him again? This is a witch hunt," father Bobby White said.
But the time he's already served was for a different case, according to deputy prosecutor Phil Sorenson.
"That was a murder than happened three years after this charge; a different killing, different part of the city of Tacoma," Sorenson said. "He has to be held accountable for the crimes he committed then and now."
The judge seemed to agree with the prosecutor. Prosecutors requested bail be set at $2 million, and the judge set it at $3 million.
No trial date has been set.
