Man claimed self-defense in fatal Fife shooting. Jury disagreed, and he’s been sentenced
A man was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for shooting a man to death outside a motel on Pacific Highway in Fife.
Tamau Tauala, 31, was convicted by a jury in May of first-degree manslaughter. He originally was charged in Pierce County Superior Court with second-degree murder in the Aug. 2, 2020 killing of 32-year-old Tupo Fuaau.
Superior Court Judge Susan Adams on Friday ordered Tauala to spend 11 years, six months in prison. That term is the low end of the standard sentencing range, one year less than prosecutors requested.
Tauala has one prior felony conviction in Oregon, but he does not have felony convictions in Washington state, court records show.
Prosecutors requested a mid-range sentence, arguing that while the jury could not decide that the defendant’s actions amounted to intentional murder, their conclusion was that he acted recklessly and not in self-defense.
Witnesses told detectives the shooting occurred after a confrontation between the two men on the morning of the shooting, according to court records.
Fuaau kicked in the defendant’s motel room door while armed with a gun and looking for a woman who had allegedly robbed him the week before. The prosecution’s trial brief states that a person inside the room saw Tauala wrestle the gun away from the man, and Fuaau left and drove away.
At about 9 a.m., surveillance footage from the motel shows Fuaau arrive back at the parking lot in a white Chrysler and pull into a parking spot in front of rooms 109 and 110, where a man is standing outside. As it pulls into the spot, the man’s arm is raised toward the vehicle. After a few seconds, the Chrysler suddenly reverses in a half-circle, crashing backward into a car and hitting the front of room 106.
At trial, Tauala testified that he fired the first gunshot at Fuaau because he thought the man was going to run him and another woman over, according to the defense’s sentencing memorandum. Tauala said he fired a second shot because he thought the other man was reaching for a gun.
Prosecutors said evidence at trial suggested that Fuaau was unarmed when he returned to the hotel.
Multiple people called 911, and Fife Police Department officers arrived in minutes, according to the trial brief. Inside the crashed Chrysler, police found Fuaau slumped over the passenger seat. He was removed from the car and taken to St. Joseph Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
An autopsy found that Fuaau was shot in the left thigh and the head. The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.
More than a week after the shooting, detectives located Tauala while conducting surveillance outside a residence in Tacoma. After being taken into custody, the defendant told detectives that he gave the gun used in the shooting to an unknown man who gave him a ride at a gas station.
The defendant’s attorney, Lisa Carnell, with the Department of Assigned Counsel, asked the court to sentence Tauala to 10 years in prison. In a sentencing memorandum, Carnell argued the victim in this case was an aggressor or provoker of the incident “to a significant degree.” She pointed to the fact that the victim was armed during the men’s initial confrontation and that Fuaau returned to the motel on his own accord.
“While the jury did not find that Mr. Tauala’s actions were reasonable, his actions were preceded by what he observed to be a threat on his life by Mr. Fuaau,” Carnell wrote.
Prosecutors disagreed, saying that the defense was asking the court to speculate as to why the victim returned to the motel, and that there was no evidence showing Fuaau was an aggressor in the moments leading up to the fatal gunshots.
“The surveillance footage shows Mr. Fuaau pulling up as if he is going to park his car,” the state’s sentencing memorandum says. “Mr. Tauala testified that Mr. Fuaau was not holding a gun, that the passenger was not holding a gun, and that no one else was shooting.”
