Man found guilty of attempting to murder two Burbank police officers gets 81 years to life in prison
Jamie Warren Willard, 36, was found guilty of attempting to murder two Burbank police officers during an arrest. He was sentenced Thursday to 81 years to life in state prison.
A 36-year-old man convicted of attempting to kill two Burbank police officers by grabbing one of their guns and firing after he had been handcuffed and placed under arrest for stealing from a Kmart store was sentenced Thursday to 81 years to life in state prison.
Jamie Warren Willard was found guilty in July of two counts of attempted murder of a peace officer, two counts of assault on a peace officer with a semiautomatic firearm, one count of second-degree commercial burglary and one count of assault.
The jury found true allegations that, in the crimes against the two officers, Willard personally discharged a firearm, causing them great bodily injury.
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Jamie Warren Willard, 36, was found guilty of attempting to murder two Burbank police officers during an arrest. He was sentenced Thursday to 81 years to life in state prison.
Prior to Willard’s sentencing, his public defender, Mark Carrillo, asked the judge to consider his client’s limited criminal history — records show he was convicted of stealing from a San Dimas grocery store — and noted that both officers who were injured went back to work and “seem to have put this incident behind them.”
But Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Suzette Clover said mitigating factors were “far outweighed” by aggravating factors.
The crimes involved a high degree of cruelty, viciousness and callousness and were carried out in a way that indicated planning and sophistication, she said.
Carrillo said Thursday that he plans to file an appeal.
In Willard’s account of the incident — which he shared with the Burbank Leader after his conviction in jailhouse and phone interviews and a handwritten letter — he denied grabbing an officer’s gun.
It would’ve been impossible, he said, for him to disarm a cop while handcuffed behind his back. He wanted to testify during his trial, he said, but his attorney advised him against it.
“I am not Jason Bourne. I have no Special Forces training,” Willard wrote last month in his letter to the Leader. “I don’t even think Jason Bourne would be able to do the things they are saying.”
The case stretches back to the Friday before Fourth of July six years ago, when Burbank police responded to a Kmart store to investigate a theft.
Employees had nicknamed Willard something along the lines of “the Casper” because, they told police, he’d been in twice before to steal DVDs without getting caught.
This time around, Kmart employees confronted him as he left the store. Willard dropped the stolen items and ran. They chased him down, put him in cuffs and called the police.
Derek Green, a patrol officer at the time, was the first on scene. During his detention that hot July day, Willard went from being calm and cooperative to acting boisterous and uncooperative, Green testified during the trial.
At one point, Willard started to cry. He told police he couldn’t go to jail. He complained that his cuffs were too tight.
Because of Willard’s size — records show he was 6-feet tall and 220 pounds at the time — Green used two sets of handcuffs to link Willard’s hands behind his back before he and his partner, Alex Gutierrez, walked him outside.
Green said he opened his patrol car door to set his belongings on the passenger seat and turn on the ignition to run the air conditioner. Willard had been sweating profusely.
According to a Los Angeles County district attorney’s office review of the shooting, Willard had amphetamines and opiates in his blood on the day of the shooting. (Willard later told the Leader he was sober).
From there, Green noticed a verbal exchange between Willard and Gutierrez turn physical.
Before any shots were fired, Green said he heard Gutierrez yell, “He has my gun! He has my gun!”
Green testified that he saw Gutierrez’s pistol in Willard’s hand, prompting him to draw his own.
He shouted for help on his radio while trying to get a clear shot, which was difficult because his partner and Willard were entangled.
During the scuffle, Green said, Willard managed to point the gun at him.
With five feet between them, the pair made eye contact before Green saw a muzzle flash and smoke and immediately felt the sensation of a bullet piercing his left hand.
Green missed nine months of work and underwent four surgeries to reconstruct his hand, which could lose functionality down the road, court records show.
According to Willard’s account, Gutierrez was trying to push him in a patrol car through a half-open door, but he held his ground, since he was too big to fit.
During that scuffle, Willard said he felt Gutierrez lose his footing and fall backward.
“All in this motion, he finally lets go of my arm,” Willard said. “That’s when I hear his gun go off twice.”
Following the initial gunfire, a wounded Green said he fired eight rounds toward Willard’s lower extremities so he wouldn’t hit his partner. Photos taken at the scene show seven strike marks in the ground. Both Willard and Gutierrez were struck by ricocheting bullets.
Willard noted in his interview with the Leader that no gunshot residue was found on his hands, and none of his DNA or fingerprints were found on Gutierrez’s gun.
Carrillo argued at the trial that Gutierrez fired his own gun and said physical evidence suggests that Green shot himself, a story that the prosecutor called “crazy.”
A Burbank police spokesman strongly disputed Willard’s account, noting that the jury, after considering all the evidence, found him guilty.
When the verdict was read, Willard said, he felt an out of body experience.
“I felt like somebody killed me, but I was still alive watching it,” Willard said. “Why would I risk a life sentence for something like that?”
As he scanned the jury that afternoon, he noticed two jurors weeping. Neither stuck around afterward to share why.
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Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com
Twitter: @atchek
