Mistrial declared in Tri-Cities ambush murder. A lone juror wasn’t convinced

A single juror was not convinced that a Spokane man killed an 18-year-old Richland woman nearly four years ago in a Kennewick ambush shooting.

The 11-1 split resulted in a mistrial Tuesday in Benton County Superior Court after seven weeks of contentious testimony.

The jury needed to be unanimous to convict Marcell A. E. Cola, 24, of aggravated first-degree murder in the shooting death of Jatzivy Sarabia and three counts of attempted first-degree murder for allegedly firing at her three friends in the same car.

The jury dilberated 2 1/2 days before deciding they could not agree.

Prosecutor Eric Eisinger, who worked with Deputy Prosecutor Brittnie Roehm on the case, told the Tri-City Herald they will retry the case before another jury.

“We’re not done working through this,” he said. “We know that we were going to have to try this case multipe times... We are going to retry the case, and we hope for a conviction..”

Even though he was disappointed with the verdict, he praised the jury’s work on the case, saying that they paid close attention and took notes.

Cola is accused of being one of four shooters who fired 70 bullets at a Jeep on Chemical Drive on Oct. 15, 2022, in an ambush-style attack.

Kimberly Sarabia, Jatizivy’s mother, sat through the entire trial, sometimes so upset about the testimony that she needed to leave the courtroom.

But on Tuesday she said she went into the trial without any expectations and appreciated the work the jury put into listening to the evidence.

“I just wanted the truth to come out. This defendant is still sitting in jail and will continue to pay for his crimes,” she told the Herald. “I believe that the next trial will be the answer that we are hoping for. ... The prosecution has been amazing and supportive during this whole situation. I believe that my daughter will have Justice in the end.”

Defense attorney Bob Thompson couldn’t be reached Tuesday about the mistrial.

It’s not clear when Cola will be tried again. The three other suspects — Darrious A Thomason, 20, Layshawne Bethea-Dickerson, 17, and Isaiah S.R. Combs, 23 — were scheduled to be tried later this year. Those dates may change with the outcome of this trial.

Premeditated murder or self-defense?

During last week’s closing arguments, Roehm told jurors that Sarabia and her three friends were just trying to have fun that night.

“They had every reason to believe that they were safe, then, in a matter of seconds, everything changes. Gunfire erupts. Chaos takes over as bullets pour into their vehicle,” she said. “When the gunfire stropped, one of these young women, Jatizivy Sarabia, died. Three others will carry the trauma of that moment for the rest of their lives.”

While prosecutors described Cola as a man whose decisions that day led to the shooting, Thompson argued that the only proof his client fired a shot came from a witness who wasn’t believable.

“Sometimes if you throw enough mud, maybe something will stick, and that is what we’re seeing here,” Thompson argued. “You see the dots that they try to connect, and you can draw them, but there’s such a huge delta between any of that to make it a reality.”

Parties and a shooting

While Cola is accused of being involved in the shooting, he was not a central figure. He was part of a group of men who lived in Spokane with connections to Isaiah Combs.

Prosecutors pointed out that days before the shooting, Cola helped buy an automatic pistol for Thomason. That gun came with an extended magazine, which he allegedly kept as his own gun.

Cola was allegedly part of a group that had hung out in Spokane with Combs, Bethea-Dickerson and four women — Sarabia, Aubreyanna Asselin, Angelique Salazar and Jasmine Lomeli.

While in Spokane, Lomeli said something that angered Combs. And when Asselin intervened, Combs allegedly pointed a gun at Asselin’s head.

The women returned home to the Tri-Cities but Combs and Bethea-Dickerson, along with a group of men from Spokane, also came to town.

The two groups crossed paths again, this time ouside the 3-Cities Sports Bar in Kennewick. They seemed to settle their differences and agreed to meet up at a party in Finley.

Sarabia and her friends stopped in Kennewick first, while the other two carloads went to the party but were turned away for having weapons.

Soon after, Combs, Cola and the others were allegedly waiting for Sarabia and her friends to drive by and are accused of opening fire as their Jeep approached near the cable bridge.

Shooting in fear

Thompson argued there were contradictions in the testimony of two witnesses — Torrey Daniels and Maya Williams.

Neither testified that they saw the Jeep and claimed they heard the gunshots behind them. He noted that the group had an encounter at the party where they were threatened, and were reasonably afraid of what would happen.

He argued the men were acting in self defense “because they thought they were getting attacked by the guys from the block party.”

Thompson also questioned Daniels’ credibility after changing his story about what happened when he spoke with police and eventually having his charges reduced to criminal mischief.