Jury finds Jason Williams guilty of second-degree murder
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EPHRATA — Jason Williams was found guilty of shooting and killing Christian Guerra outside a fast food restaurant in Moses Lake.
Williams, 38, of Moses Lake, was found guilty of second-degree murder and three counts of first-degree assault in connection with the shooting death of Guerra, 22, of Moses Lake, outside of the Moses Lake Jack in the Box in January 2015. The jury found Williams not guilty of more serious charges of first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree attempted murder.
The verdict comes in the wake of a two-week trial and one day of deliberations regarding the Jan. 18 early morning incident outside of Jack in the Box. A few hours before Guerra’s murder he had went to Neppel’s Dockside Pub in Moses Lake with three other people to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
Williams and his wife, Martha Mejia, were at the bar as well, but the two groups decided to leave after a fight broke out. Williams claimed he left the bar with his wife in their GMC Yukon and were followed by a Ford Fusion, which Guerra was a passenger in along with three other people. Williams testified he was suspicious of the Fusion so he pulled into the Jack in the Box parking lot and went into the drive-thru lane. The Fusion pulled up behind the Yukon, effectively blocking the Yukon in the drive-thru. The Yukon attempted to back up, which prompted the driver of the Fusion to honk the vehicle’s horn.
Mejia got out of the Yukon and confronted the occupants of the Fusion. Guerra and another man got out of the Fusion and became involved in a physical confrontation with Williams. After the first fight, Guerra got back into the Fusion and the vehicle backed out of the drive-thru, stopping a few feet behind the Yukon in the Jack in the Box parking lot.
In video surveillance shown to the jury, Guerra can be seen getting out of the Fusion and heading toward the Yukon, where he was involved in a second fight with Williams. Guerra then got back in the Fusion, but got back out after he saw Williams walking toward the car with a 9mm pistol in his left hand, which he had retrieved out of the Yukon.
Prosecutor Garth Dano told the jury Guerra approached Williams in an attempt to defuse the situation, but in the video shown to the jury Williams can be seen taking a few steps toward Guerra and shooting him, then taking a few more steps and shooting him again. After shooting Guerra, Williams fired a few shots at the Fusion, which is where the three counts of first-degree assault come into play. Guerra would later die at Samaritan Hospital from the gunshot wounds.
Williams’ defense attorney, John Crowley, claimed the shooting was in self-defense and his client was afraid for his and his wife’s safety.
Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.
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