Each of Washington's 39 counties has a superior court that hears criminal and civil cases as well as appeals from district courts. Here's what you should know about Pierce County Superior Court. By Pete Caster
Pierce County prosecutors on Friday will ask a judge to sentence former Seattle Supersonics star Shawn Kemp to nine months in county jail after he was convicted of shooting at a stolen car occupied by men he suspected had taken his phone.
Kemp, 55, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault just before his trial was expected to begin in late May. Kemp and his attorneys struck a deal with prosecutors — who noted multiple factors weighed in favor of resolving the case short of trial — that reduced his charges from first-degree assault and drive-by shooting and removed firearm enhancements that would have added 10 years to his sentence.
The plea agreement allows prosecutors to argue for a punishment within the standard sentencing range, which for Kemp, who has no criminal history, is three to nine months in jail. It also lets the defense argue for a sentence below that range.
“The State recommends the Court sentence the Defendant to the high end of his standard range of 9 months in custody of the Pierce County Jail and 12 months of community custody,” deputy prosecuting attorney Sean Plunkett wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed Aug. 14.
Kemp has remained out of custody throughout his case. The court commissioner who ordered he could stay out of jail without posting bail after Kemp was charged following the March 8, 2023, shooting noted that Kemp had some speeding tickets, but nothing in his history gave him reason to believe he was a danger to the community.
No one was hurt in the shooting. It occurred after Kemp’s truck was broken into the previous night at the concert venue Showbox Sodo, where Kemp and a number of his employees were having a celebration. Kemp tracked his stolen iPhone, first to Emerald Queen Casino parking lot and then to the south side of the Tacoma Mall.
It’s unclear what kind of sentence Kemp’s attorneys will ask Superior Court Judge Michael Schwartz to impose. The two lawyers representing him, Tim Leary and Aaron Kiviat, did not respond to a request for comment. When Kemp pleaded guilty, Leary said the plea agreement allowed Kemp to ask for no jail time based on the actions of the men in the vehicle he shot.
Prosecutors said the two men who were in possession of Kemp’s property had significant histories of crimes of dishonesty. Both are currently incarcerated.
Letters filed in court in support of Kemp from his daughter and the executive director of a Seattle senior center have highlighted Kemp’s personal growth and his support of local nonprofits.
Dian Ferguson, executive director of the Central Area Senior Center, wrote that she met Kemp through his wife, Marvena, and she credits the blossoming of the senior center she has led for 11 years to both of them.
“Elliott, my son, thinks of Shawn as a community asset always willing to help those less fortunate through philanthropic support and his presence at our senior center, basketball camps for children and youth in the summer months and his Holiday giveaways of turkeys and food during Thanksgiving and holiday gifts to those less fortunate during the Christmas Season,” Ferguson wrote.
But prosecutors have counted contradictions between the evidence and Kemp’s statements to law enforcement among the reasons a high-end sentence is warranted, along with Kemp’s apparent attempt to conceal evidence by tossing the 6-shot, .357 magnum he fired into some bushes.
A photo included in prosecutors’ sentencing memorandum shows the revolver Shawn Kemp used to shoot at a vehicle outside the Tacoma Mall that was occupied by two men he suspected had stolen his cell phone. Pierce County Superior Court
Plunkett wrote in the sentencing memorandum that leaving the loaded and cocked revolver created a dangerous situation that could have allowed a child or someone prohibited from possessing a gun to find it.
In the defense’s trial brief, his attorneys said Kemp didn’t want to approach law enforcement while armed, and that he “immediately” acknowledged firing the gun and that he had placed it in a bush.
Plunkett, however, said Kemp only admitted to throwing the revolver into the bushes after law enforcement confronted him with the firearm. The deputy prosecutor also said Kemp didn’t tell responding officers or a 911 operator that he had fired at the men in the 4Runner until officers took statements from witnesses and asked Kemp directly if he had fired a gun.
Plunkett noted that cell phone video and photos of the 4Runner Kemp shot three times contradicted Kemp’s statements to responding police officers and detectives that he only retrieved his firearm after a man in the vehicle shot at him.