Frank Pawul, one of the people charged in the death of former Hoquiam Police officer and Pierce County Deputy Daniel McCartney, pleaded guilty to first degree murder in Pierce County Superior Court on Friday morning.
“Six months ago I stood before all of you and I promised that we were going to hold accountable everyone that was involved in the murder of Daniel McCartney,” said Pierce County Sheriff spokesman Ed Troyer at a press conference Friday. “Today was a major step forward in fulfilling that promise.”
Seated beside McCartney’s wife Cierra and Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor, Troyer commended the hard work of prosecutors and all involved in the investigation, including the first responders who were able to secure the scene.
“Putting a case together like this where the result is a guilty plea to aggravated murder in the first degree requires everyone do their jobs and do it well,” Troyer said. “I know the community needs justice in this case. Today was a major step forward, but there’s still work to be done.”
Cierra McCartney spoke briefly, thanking the first responders on the scene who were with her husband in his last moments. She said she knows it would have been comforting to her husband to have his brothers and sisters in law enforcement with him that night.
Prior to joining the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office in 2014, McCartney had been a Hoquiam Police officer since 2009.
Pawul, 33, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, unlawful possession of a firearm and conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery in an 8:30 a.m. court hearing, Troyer said. There was no plea deal, and Pawul will get a sentence of life in prison.
Samantha Dawn Jones, 29, and Brenda Troyer, 52, still are being held pending $2 million bail on charges of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. Brenda Troyer is of no relation to the sheriff’s spokesman.
Charging papers give this account of the night McCartney was shot:
Troyer dropped off Pawul and 35-year-old Henry Carden near a mobile home in the 20000 block of 45th Avenue Court East in Frederickson Jan. 7, where they set off to rob a mobile home frequented by drug dealers.
The residents called 911 about 11:24 p.m. to report a home invasion, and McCartney was dispatched there. Six minutes later, he radioed that he had arrived at his destination.
Shortly after, he reported “shots fired” over the radio. That was his final transmission.
Other deputies arrived and found McCartney with a fatal gunshot wound, and found Carden nearby with several gunshot wounds, including a self-inflicted shot to the head that killed him.
Pawul was found eight hours after the shooting, when he tried to get through a police checkpoint while shivering, soaking wet and filthy, bleeding from his hands.
Five people were home during the robbery, including two toddlers. One of the adults escaped through the window and made the 911 call.
Deputies tied Troyer to the crime as the getaway driver after obtaining a search warrant for Pawul’s phone. Jones was a passenger in Troyer’s car.
McCartney, 34, of Yelm, is survived by his wife and three young sons.
