TACOMA — Despite pleas for leniency from prosecutors and defense attorneys, a Pierce County judge on Friday sentenced a 44-year-old woman to 20 years in prison for her role in the fatal robbery of an armored-car guard two years ago.
Pierce County prosecutor Dawn Farina had recommended between 12 and 15 years, saying that Tonie Marie Williams-Irby had been “extremely cooperative,” helping prosecutors send the robbery’s mastermind — her boyfriend at the time — to prison and aiding in another homicide case.
But judge Frederick Fleming disagreed, the Tacoma News Tribune reported.
In June 2009, three men confronted Loomis guard Kurt Husted outside the Lakewood Wal-Mart. One of the men shot Husted in the head.
Williams-Irby’s ex-boyfriend, Odies Walker, is serving a life sentence now. Authorities said that Williams-Irby worked at the Wal-Mart and provided Walker with sales information before planning the robbery. Two other men are in prison for the crime as well: Calvin Finley is serving a life sentence for shooting Husted and Marshawn Turpin is in prison for 47 years.
Defense attorney Gary Clower characterized Williams-Irby’s role in the crime as minor.
“She told him about the money and buried her head in the sand beyond that,” the defense attorney said.
Prosecutors had cut a deal with Williams-Irby agreeing to reduce the number of charges against her from six to two. She pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree murder and first-degree robbery.
Given a chance to speak on her own behalf, Williams-Irby, a mother of two, said she was sorry someone she knew killed Husted and asked his loved ones to someday forgive her.
The judge’s decision to reject the terms of the plea bargain and sentence Williams-Irby to the high end of the standard range pleased Deborah Bishop, who was engaged to Husted at the time of his death.
Bishop previously asked Fleming not to take pity on Williams-Irby, saying she had cooperated with police for selfish reasons and not out of a sense of remorse.
“Yes!” Bishop said when Fleming announced the sentence.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
