Man who planned robbery-turned-homicide pleads guilty

Published 1:30 am Thursday, May 16, 2019

EVERETT — The man hatched the robbery plan shortly after learning his acquaintance had won several thousand dollars at a casino.

He recruited the help of three other men, with plans to hide his own involvement.

On Feb. 20, 2018, Tye Burley was approached by two men outside a motel in Marysville. They knocked him to the ground and kicked him. He tried fighting back.

Then a gun was fired.

Burley, from Arlington, died two days later at the hospital from a gunshot wound to the head. He was 30.

The man who planned the attack, Jeremy Dailey, 34, pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder in Snohomish County Superior Court.

He could spend between 13¾ and 22 years in prison, according to state guidelines.

Prosecutors are recommending the lower end of that range. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 29.

Dailey, who last lived in Everett, agreed to testify against two other defendants in the case — brothers Jorge Martinez Jr., 32, of Mount Vernon, and Jose Nava, 31, of Everett.

The brothers are accused of beating and killing Burley. Martinez allegedly fired the fatal shot — by accident, he has said, according to a statement from his mother that appears in court papers. And Nava is accused of taking the man’s wallet, possibly filled with up to $7,000 in cash, according to charging papers.

Afterward, the two men allegedly got into a Dodge Durango with the other defendants and fled. Martinez reportedly had a silver, semi-automatic Beretta pistol and may have thrown it out the window somewhere along Highway 529, Dailey told investigators.

The brothers — Martinez and Nava — were arrested days later in California. They were in jail Thursday with bail set at $5 million. Their trial is scheduled for November.

A fourth man, Jared Evans, 30, was convicted in November of first-degree robbery. He and Dailey met the night of the robbery during an unrelated drug deal, prosecutors wrote.

Zachariah Bryan: 425-339-3431; zbryan@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @zachariahtb.