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Accomplice in cop-killer case gets five years

by Brian Walker
| September 24, 2010 9:00 PM

The Post Falls mother of Tina Griswold, one of four Lakewood, Wash., police officers shot to death at a coffee shop last November, said she's pleased with the five-year sentence handed down on Thursday to a friend who helped the shooter.

Quiana M. Williams, 27, pleaded guilty in Pierce County, Wash., to five counts of first-degree rendering criminal assistance.

"We're hoping this gives her time to think about it and come out (of prison) a better person," said Geneva DeLong, Griswold's mother.

DeLong said she asked the judge for a five-year sentence, the maximum under the law.

"It's not about vengeance," DeLong said. "It's not because we hate her. It's about holding someone responsible."

Police suspect Williams picked up killer Maurice Clemmons in Seattle on Nov. 29 after he shot Griswold, fellow officers Ronald Owens and Greg Richards and Sgt. Mark Renninger.

According to court papers, Williams took Clemmons to her home, helped him with wounds he suffered in the shootings, allowed him to do laundry and lent him her phone prior to driving him to another part of Seattle.

DeLong said the crime was "cold-blooded" enough, but not having Clemmons caught right away added to the agony. Clemmons was shot and killed by a police officer on Dec. 1.

DeLong said she hopes Williams will find God while she's in prison and is pleased that she pleaded guilty because admission of guilt is a first step toward rehabilitation.

"We want to let her know that this isn't the end," DeLong said. "She can make changes in life."

Williams, one of six people charged with assisting Clemmons or his alleged getaway driver Dorcus Allen, was arrested in early December and has been in jail since.

A jury in June convicted Clemmons' sister, LaTanya Clemmons, of helping Allen. She was sentenced to five years in prison.

Four other suspects charged with rendering criminal assistance are expected to go to trial in October. Allen, who pleaded not guilty to four counts of aggravated first-degree murder, will go to trial next year.