Jury Acquits Man Accused Of Hiring Killer

A 22-year-old man has been acquitted of an aggravated first-degree murder charge for allegedly paying another gang member $5,000 to kill a potential witness in a different trial.

Prosecutors said Damien Darnell Harris agreed to pay Christopher Reinhold to kill Lemar Clinton Alexander, a member of Harris’s Lakewood gang, to keep him from testifying against Harris in a weapons case.

But a Thurston County Superior Court jury on Thursday disagreed. In its second day of deliberations - after having to start over with an alternate when one juror had a heart attack - the jury found Harris innocent of the murder charge in less than an hour.

They also acquitted him of one count each of witness tampering and unlawful possession of a firearm.

“I’m happy now. I’m happy it’s over,” said Harris. “It’s been a long six months.”

Reinhold, a member of a Thurston County gang, pleaded guilty in January to second-degree murder for shooting Alexander in an Olympia parking lot.

He faces about 13 years in prison under a plea bargain that called for him to testify against Harris. Reinhold testified that he acted alone on Harris’ offer of $5,000 to kill Alexander.

But defense attorney Sverre Staurset, hoping to undermine Reinhold’s testimony, implied that two other gang associates were involved.

Jurors also wanted to hear from the man the defense said actually commissioned the killing, Staurset said.

But that man refused to testify because he might incriminate himself, according to Staurset and Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jim Powers.

Powers said the case will remain open until everyone involved in the killing is brought to justice. “Who’s to say that only one person was involved in getting Christopher Reinhold to do what he did?” Powers said. “We’re always going to be open to the possibility that someone other than Damien Harris was involved.”