Maleke Pate is a killer from Washington State who was convicted of four murders
According to court documents Maleke Pate would go to a home in Tacoma Washington where he would shoot and kill Maria Nunez, 42, her son Emery Iese, 19, Nunez’s brother Raymond Williams, 22, and Williams’ girlfriend Natasha Brincefield, 22.
Maleke Pate would be seen running from the scene and would be arrested days later
Maleke Pate would be convicted of the four murders and is now facing a sentence of life without parole
Maleke Pate Case
A Pierce County jury found Maleke Pate guilty on all four counts Friday in a quadruple murder in Tacoma in October 2021.
Pate, who was 22 at the time of the homicides, was charged with four counts of aggravated murder in what prosecutors described as a random attack. The trial began nearly three weeks ago.
Pate was accused of killing Maria Nunez, 42, her son Emery lese, Nunez’s brother Raymond Williams, 22, and Williams’ girlfriend Natasha Brincefield, 22.
Closing arguments in the case wrapped up Wednesday, with jury deliberations beginning Thursday morning.
As the trial began in early March, the state first described a grisly crime scene as a senseless act of violence in Tacoma’s Salishan neighborhood. Pate, the man accused of pulling the trigger, appeared emotionless as the prosecutor described the shooting deaths of Williams, Brincefield, Iese and Nunez in a driveway.
The prosecutor said Pate was a stranger who had no motive for violently killing the tight-knit family.
“Gunned them down with no cause, no emotion,” Pierce County attorney Sunni Ko said. “Killed them execution style.”
In response, the defense told jurors the state’s case is made up of circumstantial evidence, and no firm proof of Pate’s involvement in the horrendous crime.
“You’re going to have to set aside the dramatic part of the story and the tragedy that exists here and do your job as jurors, which is to rule on the actual evidence you hear before you, and when you do, you’re going to end up coming back to the verdict of not guilty,” defense attorney Travis Currie said.
Witness testimony
Danielle Monosmith, who is a tenant at the home where the victims were reportedly gunned down, took the stand earlier this month alleging she heard the gunfire, then looked out her window to see the suspect fire a gun in the driveway.
“I saw a man standing at the passenger window,” Monosmith said from the stand. “He had his arm outreached. I saw a gun in his hand. He was putting it in the window. Then the gun went off and I stumbled at the windowsill.”
She said she could see Williams was shot in the head but was still alive. In that 911 call, she is heard yelling at him to hang on as help was on the way.
“Raymond, hang in there! It’s OK. I’m on the phone with the ambulance and police are coming right now. Oh, they’re here!” Monosmith yelled as she next is heard speaking to police. “He’s still alive! We need an ambulance, stat!”
Williams later died at the hospital.
As the 911 call played in the courtroom, Pate appeared to have no reaction or emotion. Judge Susan Adams later addressed him, asking him to stop turning to talk to people in the gallery. On Friday, after Pate was taken out in handcuffs and court was over, Lauvale Iese said the names of his loved ones who were taken from him.
“Maria Nunez was my wife. Emery Iese was my son. Raymond Williams was my brother-in-law. Natasha Brincefield was my friend.”
Iese said, “I hope nobody looks forward to good news like this, but justice is served, period.”
He stated, “I thank God for everything. The jurors, the judge, the lawyers, the detectives, and mainly the witnesses. I know we probably wouldn’t be where we are if it wasn’t for them being brave and coming forward.”
Iese, who said he was a preacher, will now carry on to remember his loved ones and honor them each day.
“I’m trying to do my best to show up in a way not only as a father but also in the way my wife would be for my kids and also for our grandbaby that has just arrived,” he said. Despite the trial ending, what is still not known and what may never be known is: “Why?”
“I hate to chalk it down to ‘it’s just life.’ But he made his own choices,” Iese said of Pate. “All we did was try to make Tacoma better and tell people about God. That’s all we did. All I can point it down to is that he’s a sinner.”
