2 convicted of 2nd degree murder in Tacoma stabbing death

Published 12:51 pm Wednesday, April 29, 2015

TACOMA — A Pierce County jury has convicted two men of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of a third man in a case with ties to white supremacy.

The county prosecutor’s office says 33-year-old Shane McKittrick and 34-year-old Eric Elliser are scheduled to be sentenced May 19.

They were convicted Tuesday in the Nov. 16, 2013, stabbing death of 27-year-old Derek Wagner.

The prosecutor says Wagner had been accused of having an affair with the wife of a fellow skinhead.

McKittrick’s attorney said his client stabbed Wagner in self-defense. Elliser’s lawyer told jurors his client had nothing to do with Wagner’s death.

Two other people previously pleaded guilty in the case. A jury acquitted a fifth defendant.

The prosecutor says the defendants and victim had ties to the Aryan Skins Kindred prison gang.