A man and a woman were sentenced Friday for the June 2013 beating death of a Kent woman in her apartment.
Tatiana Wood-Sims, 26, received 14½ years in prison and Michael Galloway, 23, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in the death of Latasha Walker, 24, who was found unconscious on her bedroom floor at the Somerset Apartments, 25216 110th Ave. S.E. Both were sentenced before Judge Laura Middaugh at the Regional Justice Center.
A jury convicted Corey Mann and Gary Sanders of first-degree murder in the case on March 2. They are scheduled to be sentenced April 15 before King County Superior Court Judge Alicea Galvan. Mann faces 30 to 40 years in prison while Sanders could be sentenced to 20 to 26 years.
Galloway and Wood-Sims pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder and testified at the trial of Mann and Sanders. Galloway faced a sentence of 12 to 20 years while Wood-Sims faced 10 to 18 years.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office recommended the minimum sentence for Galloway because he provided the prosecution with information in the case.
“He is the person who did stand up and say, ‘OK, now let’s go forward and go forward with this in a straightforward matter, and he did help a lot, I believe, the prosecution,” Middaugh said during the hearing.
Middaugh imposed a mid-range sentence for Wood-Sims because she planned the robbery that led to Walker’s death.
“I think that but for Ms. Wood-Sims’ action, no one would be here ..,” Middaugh said. “Without her, Latasha would be alive.”
Dozens of Walker’s family members and friends packed the courtroom, many wearing shirts with Walker’s picture. The family also displayed a poster filled with photos of Walker, whom they affectionately called “pretty, pretty.”
Several of Walker’s family members, including her mother and father, addressed the court during the hearing.
Members of Wood-Sims’ family were present, and several spoke on her behalf. Galloway did not have any family present.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Walker died from numerous liver lacerations and large amounts of blood in her chest cavity, consistent with some type of blunt force trauma. Walker was found in a fetal position, with a belt around her neck, according to charging papers. Walker was unresponsive and declared dead later that night at Valley Medical Center in Renton.
The group organized the invasion of Walker’s apartment in search of cash and pills but ended up leaving with only electronics, according to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Detectives arrested Galloway, of Burien, in October 2013 and tracked down the other three in 2014. Galloway admitted to detectives that he and two other men traveled to Kent to rob Walker. He said one of the other men told them Walker had large sums of cash and pills at her apartment and that her man was in jail.
When the men went to the apartment, Galloway knocked on the door and asked to use a phone. As Wood-Sims started to open the door, the men forced their way inside.
Galloway said the other men wrestled, punched and choked Walker as he looked for the money and drugs. Galloway said he didn’t find cash or drugs but he stole Xbox games, a laptop and cellphones.
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