An Allegheny County prosecutor told jurors Friday morning that Terrence Washington purposely killed Makeida Thompson, the mother of their 1-year-old son.
“The defendant was enraged (and) throughout this trial we’ve shown you the build-up of that rage,” Deputy District Attorney Ryan Kiray said during a 34-minute closing argument.
“This was willful. This was intentional. It was premeditated. And it was completely and utterly unjustified.”
Authorities say Washington, 40, killed his ex-girlfriend Thompson, 32, of Clairton on Nov. 10, 2020. The killing happened inside his grandmother’s house in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood in front of her, Washington’s mother and the toddler.
After Kiray’s comments on the fourth day of Washington’s trial, jurors headed into deliberations. They must decide whether the accused had intent or malice to kill when he shot Thompson.
Prosecutors are seeking a first-degree murder conviction against Washington, which would mean a mandatory life sentence without parole.
Washington’s attorney, who claimed his client acted in self-defense because Thompson reached for her gun, asked jurors to consider involuntary manslaughter.
Both sides agreed that Washington pulled the trigger.
Thompson and Washington had broken up and were quarrelling in the months leading up to the shooting, according to hundreds of text messages read aloud Wednesday to jurors by a detective.
Those quarrels ultimately ended with seven gunshots, four of them striking Washington in the head.
She died at the scene.
Thomas N. Farrell, who represents Washington, said his client admits he shot Thompson.
“He did it,” Farrell said. “He is not happy about it. He didn’t intend to kill her.”
Farrell attempted to poke holes in the prosecution’s version of events.
Thompson, a juvenile probation officer, had a license for the pistol she was carrying on the day of her death. Washington feared she would use it, according to his attorney.
“It’s self-defense — she reached for the gun. She threatened him,” Farrell said.
Farrell claimed Washington fled to Seattle because he feared police officers would kill him. Police arrested him just over a month after the shooting.
The attorney criticized the chaos at the East Liberty home as officers collected shell casings near Thompson’s body. He repeatedly characterized the crime scene as “abominable,” “a shambles” and “a mess.”
Farrell suggested to jurors that court administrators involved in granting Thompson a restraining order days before the shooting and media who portrayed Washington in an unkind light might have influenced the defendant’s actions.
He also questioned whether Washington’s grandmother, who testified for prosecutors, was “mistaken” in how she recalled the morning’s sequence of events due to medication she regularly took.
Kiray, the prosecutor, painted a much different picture.
He cited text messages where Thompson said she feared her ex-boyfriend was setting her up by bringing her to his grandmother’s house to talk that morning.
He also said an autopsy showed Washington shot Thompson several times in the back of head.
“Executions happen from behind — that, ladies and gentlemen, is what happened here,” Kiray said.
Farrell, however, told jurors — without providing details in his closing argument — that it was not clear Thompson was shot in the back of the head.
“What happened here was not self-defense,” Kiray said. “She didn’t see him. She didn’t do anything. She didn’t know he was there. She didn’t deserve it. She should be here to raise her kids.”
Testimony earlier in the week showed that Thompson got a temporary restraining order against Washington six days before the shooting. She told a judge she feared Washington was going to harm her, court transcripts show.
“Don’t get near the courts,” Washington had texted Thompson the day the restraining order was granted. “It will get ugly for you.”
Thompson also used similarly menacing language in their texts.
Prosecutors claimed the shooting that ended monthslong arguments over custody and child support was part of Washington’s plan.
‘That’s what you get for messing with me,” Washington allegedly said after the shooting, his grandmother testified Tuesday in court.