Plea agreement in murder case

The trial of a man accused of first-degree murder in the Aug. 26 shooting death of Leonard Brown III, 22, entered its third week Thursday, as his co-defendant reached a plea agreement to testify against him.

Roy Kenneth Stillwagon, 27, is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and unlawful possession of a firearm stemming from the incident. Stillwagon has also been charged with first-degree assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly accidentally shooting alleged accomplice Lucas Alan Johnson, 25, that evening.

Johnson faced first-degree murder charges alongside Stillwagon, whose trials have been held concurrently this month, before agreeing to plead guilty to the lesser charge and testify against him.

Johnson is next scheduled to appear in Kitsap County Superior Court Jan. 27, 2006.

According to court documents, Stillwagon and Johnson went to Brown’s Washington Avenue residence a day after Brown refused to sell cocaine to Johnson, intending to rob him.

Brown scuffled with the two men before Stillwagon allegedly shot him with the handgun he had been carrying, and Johnson searched the house hoping to find drugs and cash, police records said.

Police later recovered bloody articles from Stillwagon’s Callow Avenue apartment, clothes allegedly worn by the defendants during the crime in Kingston and the murder weapon in rural north Mason County.

Stillwagon faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder.

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