Noel Caldellis displayed extreme indifference to human life when he fired into a crowd in 2006, killing Jay Clements, a Snohomish County Superior Court jury found Tuesday, Dec. 11.
The young man’s family wept when he was led away in handcuffs to await sentencing for first-degree murder. Caldellis, 20, likely will face at least 30 years behind bars.
Jurors found him guilty of killing Clements, 21, who was shot twice while attempting to break up a fight outside a Brier residence during a party of young people over the Labor Day weekend in September 2006.
Caldellis, of Seattle, also was convicted of two counts of second-degree assault. He told Lynnwood detectives he fired the gun four times trying to disperse the crowd and protect his friends.
Two shots were fired into the air, and two more were directed at the crowd during a melee, he admitted to detectives in an interview that was recorded.
A group of young people, including Caldellis, arrived at the Brier home for a fistfight. Several fights broke out moments after they arrived.
Judge Thomas Wynne is scheduled to sentence Caldellis on Jan. 8. He likely will face a term of more than three decades in prison, deputy prosecutor Matt Hunter said. One reason for the long term is a finding by jurors that Caldellis used a deadly weapon in his crimes.
The jury deliberated a little more than eight hours over two days after five weeks of trial. On Tuesday afternoon, jurors reviewed the video of Caldellis’ police interview.
The defense argued that there was more than one shooter, and no evidence connecting the fatal shot to the .357-caliber revolver that Caldellis brought to the fistfight. Witnesses, who panicked when gunfire rang out, varied in their descriptions of the gunman and of the number of shots they heard.
Jurors who spoke with lawyers after the verdict said there was “no evidence of a second shooter, and that Noel’s admission that he fired the gun is what they needed,” said Raymond McFarland, Caldellis’ Seattle defense attorney.
“I’m extremely disappointed,” McFarland said.
The jurors could have found Caldellis guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter. The first-degree murder charge was based on the theory that Caldellis exercised “extreme indifference to human life” when he fired at crowd level, regardless of whether he intended to shoot at Jay Clements.
McFarland said he doesn’t believe his client showed extreme indifference.
“If the jury believed (the shots fired by Caldellis) caused the death, I believe manslaughter would have been the appropriate verdict,” McFarland said.
In the courtroom sitting directly behind Caldellis, his parents and younger brother sobbed after the verdict was read.
Judge Wynne gave Caldellis a few moments to hug his parents and other family members before court marshals took him to jail.
Caldellis had been free on bail with heavy court-issued conditions, including electronic home monitoring. McFarland asked that Caldellis be allowed to remain out of jail until sentencing, but Wynne told him that the verdict removed a presumption of innocence.
On the other side of the courtroom, Karen Clements, the victim’s mother, hugged relatives and other supporters. The families of Caldellis and Jay Clements attended the entire trial.
“I am very happy, for the Clements family has received at least some justice,” Hunter said. “We can’t give them their son back but I hope this helps.”
Jim Haley is a reporter with The Herald in Everett
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