WS shooting victim’s murderous past

Some commenters on our last post about 37th/Findlay shooting victim Dewayne West were discussing an online discovery of a violent criminal record for someone with the same name. Looks like they were on the right trail; the P-I posted an article tonight talking about the man having killed someone at a Torchlight Parade almost 20 years ago, when he was just 16.

11 Replies to "WS shooting victim's murderous past"

  • The House March 17, 2007 (10:10 am)

    Just call me House P.I. from now on. My next case is finding out the identity of the WS Blogger…heh! heh! heh!

  • k March 17, 2007 (10:16 am)

    Happy to know it was not a random act. Is it me, or is the writing in the PI horrible?

  • Administrator March 17, 2007 (11:00 am)

    K, we agree with you on that one. In this particular story, for example, the biggest bombshell was the fact this guy was a convicted killer himself. Shouldn’t that have been in the first line, instead of the boring language about “lengthy criminal history”? Of course, we don’t resemble award-winning writers ourselves, but blogging does force you to get to the point fairly quickly.

  • shawn March 20, 2007 (1:30 pm)

    ignorance and hate seem to be a star quality that alot of bloggers share. mr. west was convicted twenty years ago..(twenty) when he was sixteen. after the man has been killed all you people can think about is what he did twenty years ago. condoleeza rice has sanctioned the killings of thousands, but if she were killed, “bring in the marching band” as far as im concerned his debt has been paid once he died. all should be forgiven. is his life worth less than yours? if you made a bad choice twenty years ago and you were killed would you still want someone tofind your killer? stop being judgemental and focus on justice for this man. or is it that there is no such thing as justice in this case because he doesnt fit into your holier than thou never made a bad choice society of just-us. you people make me sick to my stomach you need to check yourself.

  • Wet Head March 20, 2007 (3:47 pm)

    Shawn,
    Not sure what you wanted us to check. The newspapers said he had a lengthy record, and this would seem to back that up: http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:x03aRnpcVCcJ:caselaw.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl%3Fcourt%3Dwa%26vol%3D2004_app/518038maj%26invol%3D3+%22Dewayne+West%22+drugs&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us
    Drug and weapons charges filed in 2004. Bad man.

  • Eric March 21, 2007 (10:08 am)

    From the PI article linked at the top:

    He had a habit of violating terms of his community supervision and had been counseled and sometimes incarcerated because of it. In May 2005, he was busted for drug possession and convicted a few months later.

    But he continued to ignore the terms of his community supervision. In October, he was arrested for a violation related to that drug conviction and held for several days in the King County Jail, then transferred to Snohomish County, where he was released Nov. 15, 2006.

    Yeah, he was a stand-up guy and we are all ignorant.

    I can understand criminal activity as a youth. I think everyone deserves a chance. But if you don’t learn your lesson the first time….

    Somehow, I (and probably most other blog commenters) have managed to avoid being arrested or going to jail at any time in my life. I don’t understand what is so hard to figure out here – obey the law.

    One less piece of trash – good riddance.

  • Chet Desmond March 21, 2007 (11:15 am)

    Amen Eric. I’ve been debating on commenting for a few days now. So, I’ll go ahead and say it. I learned this at a very young age and it still rings true.. call it karma or whatever but paybacks are a B!^(# ! Happy Day! :)

  • shawn March 22, 2007 (1:33 pm)

    eric and chet,
    again i must say ignorance is bliss. I am in no way condoning mr. west’s past behavior, what i am not condoning is people like yourselves having the audacity to judge someone. I am sure that you are an upstanding citizen who has never been done an injustice by our great legal system, however, you do not know that man. you have no idea what his life was like. you have no idea what his mind state was when he was gunned down. their is two main points that i am trying to make. 1.no one is without sin 2. do not talk about people when you are not willing to aqttempt to change anything. i am an african american, i grew up in south seattle in a poor neighborhood, i have witnessed our great police department maim, beat and shoot people, and they get away with it. will they share the same fate as mr. west. will you post their police conduct reports? heck no. and the reason being is you share a disease, lack of knowledge and a closed mind. i hope that you agree that no one is above the law.
    and wet head what i wanted you to check is yourselves. but of course you are perfect, i hope to see you in heaven GOD

  • eric March 22, 2007 (9:28 pm)

    here’s my point – plain and simple: if you are in your 30s and still can’t manage to follow the laws of the society, i guess you get what is coming to you.

    call me ignorant if you want, but i think you are the ignorant one. obsession with victimhood will get you nowhere. one’s childhood or environment is no excuse for breaking the law.

  • shawn March 25, 2007 (1:45 pm)

    ones childhood or environment is no excuse to excuse the murder, or to seem happy that it happened. i must say that finally you are making some sense, i do agree with some of what you had to say.

  • tequila(his sister) May 5, 2008 (5:02 pm)

    every day i think of my brother he made alot of bad choice’s in life? he never had a problem owning up to them at all? he was a person that had many goal’s in life but i agree that he really f#*ked up most of the time and all of you that may judge him don’t know? I will always continue to miss him and love him carma is said to be a bitch but for those that judge will to be judged so when judgment is on you shall you be
    forgive or be condemned think about it no one on the
    earth is free of some sort of sin rather 16 or 66
    and word on the street is that no sin is greater than the other so watch who you talk about….

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