State-Journal.com - Serious charges dismissed in Toma Washington trial

Photo By Kelly MackeyDefendant Toma Washington gives a kiss to his pregnant girlfriend, Whitney Davis, after the verdict was read and they were waiting on sentencing. Washington’s friend Michael Walker, left, cousin, Tasha Tillman, mother, Aretha Booth, and sister, Latessa Washington, wait in the courtroom.

Photo By Kelly MackeyToma Washington listens as Commonwealth’s Attorney Larry Cleveland gives his closing argument Wednesday.

"God don't make no mistakes."

It's the belief Toma Washington said he clung to as he awaited sentencing for fleeing police during an incident on Harrodswood Road on the night of Dec. 27, 2007.

Washington, who spent a decade in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter for the shooting death of Rodney Williams, said he knows about mistakes.

"I sentence you to six months incarceration and a $500 fine," Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate said Wednesday to Washington after the jury failed to agree on the appropriate sentence for the misdemeanor after two hours of deliberation.

A police officer then handcuffed Washington and led him out of the courtroom.

Minutes earlier, Washington had been sitting with his family, holding his pregnant girlfriend's hand and smiling, the dim courtroom lighting reflecting off his gold front teeth.

Although he knew he faced up to 12 months, the jury had acquitted him of the more serious charge of possession of a handgun by a felon. The gun charge could have meant another decade or two behind bars had Washington been convicted.

"I feel grateful and blessed that God put it in their hearts to see the truth," Washington said to The State Journal, referring to the overwhelmingly female jury.

The truth, according to the 32-year-old Washington, is that he was trying to play the role of peacemaker on the night of Dec. 27, nine months after he was released from prison for the killing of Williams, when a dispute involving a handgun broke out in the tan Chevrolet vehicle he was sitting in on the west side of Frankfort along with acquaintances Theo Allen and Michael Walker, both convicted felons.

Washington testified that Allen and Walker got in an argument over money related to a criminal case in which the pair was involved.

Washington and Walker testified that the handgun belonged to Allen. Their testimony conflicted with that of Allen's who a day earlier recounted on the witness stand that Washington had "waved the gun in my face for five or 10 minutes."

When police arrived, Washington fled on foot when an officer was told to handcuff him after the firearm was discovered. He was apprehended after a short police pursuit.

Washington, a former athlete at Frankfort High School in the mid-"90s, testified that he ran because he had nothing to do with the dispute between Allen and Walker.

"I ran because here's a whole situation that I had nothing to do with, and I don't want to be arrested for someone else's s---," Washington told the jury.

No forensic evidence linked the weapon to any of the passengers in the vehicle, but the handgun was found near the rear passenger seat where Washington had been sitting, according to police testimony.
Much of the trial centered on the credibility of Allen, the prosecution's primary witness. One defense witness testified that Allen had tried to sell him a handgun similar to the gun found in the vehicle during the month of the incident.

"I'm not a pistol packer," Allen, who also goes by "Big Daddy," told the jury earlier in the trial. "I don't do that."

Commonwealth's Attorney Larry Cleveland said his reaction to the jury's decision to let Washington off charges of weapon possession was one of "disgust."

"This is the fourth time I've prosecuted him," Cleveland said. "If he's on the streets, he's committing crimes."

Washington's reaction to the verdict was much less dramatic than during the murder trial 10 years ago when he overturned a table, lunged toward jurors and had to be tackled by a policeman when the jury convicted him of the 1997 South Frankfort murder.

That verdict was later overturned by the state Supreme Court in August of 2000 because the prosecution removed a black potential juror. Washington later pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

After the verdict was read Wednesday, Washington calmly walked over to his family and embraced them. He said his Christian faith and impending fatherhood has changed his perspective on life.

"When I was 18, 19, I had no direction in my life, no instruction," Washington, whose mother, Aretha Booth, raised him alone, said to The State Journal. "I get my sense of direction today from strength in the Lord.

"I went through the struggle. I don't want that to become of my kids," he said.