Plea deal in 2021 slaying of Tacoma security guard angers family: ‘No justice for me’
TACOMA, Wash. Feb 26 2022 — Relatives of a slain off duty security guard who was killed last year during a dispute outside a Tacoma Walmart criticized a plea deal in the moments before his convicted killer was sentenced Thursday.
Tracy Baker, 36, was fatally stabbed in January 2021 during a fight with Jonathan Miller in the store’s parking lot that had begun with an argument over store receipts.
Miller, who had been charged with second-degree murder, agreed to a plea deal offered by Pierce County prosecutors. The agreement allowed the judge to sentence Miller to more than three years in prison.
Jonathan Miller agreed to a plea deal in the slaying of an off-duty security guard at a Tacoma Walmart.
Dorothy Boykins, mother of Baker, said she felt like her family was victimized again by the plea deal.
There was no justice for me today,” his mother said. “I lost my baby. We lost family. We lost a son.
Boykins and her family traveled from Atlanta to be present for the sentencing Thursday and to beg prosecutors to take the case to trial. They read a victim impact statement before the judge imposed sentencing.
“How can a person plead self defense when he is the person that started it?” Boykins said.
Prosecutors said they offered a plea deal to Miller because of issues with the evidence.
Relatives said they were not happy with a plea deal agreed to by prosecutors.
“As we learned more about this case, there were self defense factors that certainly complicated our case,” said Adam Faber, spokesman for the prosecutors’ office. “There was certainly a chance we would have had an acquittal in this case.”
On that January day last year, prosecutors said Miller was pretending to be a Walmart greeter and checking receipts of the store’s customers. Baker called him out about the ploy inside the store.
The dispute escalated outside the store.
“Mr. Baker was the one who initiated that as the first hands-on contact,” Faber said.
The argument quickly spilled into the parking lot and witnesses said Baker tried to walk away, but Miller continued egging him on until punches were thrown by both men.
Police said Baker was stabbed multiple times by Miller and died at the scene.
During his sentencing, however, Miller expressed regret.
“I should have just walked away,” he said. “I really just want to apologize for my actions.
After the judge sentenced him to more than three years in prison. Boykins said it was not enough and that the justice system had failed her family.
“It’s a loophole (and( it needs to be changed,” she said, adding that she planned to reach out to Washington state lawmakers in an effort to get them to change the way prosecutors handle these types of cases.
