Jurors deliberate Allen’s fate

Erica D. Johnson

Monday, Dec. 15, 2003 | 9:16 a.m.

Jurors this morning were expected to continue trying to determine whether the slaying of a local mother of four was cold-blooded murder or the result of a gun battle turned deadly.

Taiwan Allen, 29, is charged with killing his live-in girlfriend, 30-year-old Yashoma Clemons, in April and leaving her children alone in the house with her body for five days.

During the closing arguments that wrapped up Allen's trial before District Judge Donald Mosley, prosecutors told jurors that jealousy and rage sparked the shooting.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Vickie Monroe said Allen gunned the woman down after Clemons told him she wanted to get back together with her ex-husband.

"The defendant was angry," Monroe said. "After Yashoma was struck in the heart, the defendant reloaded that gun with two more bullets and then shot her in the head twice.

"That is an execution. That's what he did."

But defense attorney Frederick Santacroce said Allen shot Clemons after the two engaged in a gun battle in the master bedroom of the home they shared in the 6700 block of Tiffolo Lane near Hollywood Boulevard.

Santacroce said bullet fragments still lodged in his client's head prove Clemons also had a gun and fired shots at Allen before she was killed. He said Allen fired back in self-defense.

"There were gunshots in opposite directions," he said. "There had to be two guns."

Santacroce said that if Clemons were shot in the head or the chest, she would have died instantly. He said Clemons could not have been hit when she shot at Allen.

"The only logical conclusion is that she had to fire first," he said.

But Monroe said Santacroce's theory wasn't logical.

"Is it self-defense to shoot someone in the back of the head twice?' she asked jurors. "It's not."

Prosecutors say Allen was a violent, jealous man who assaulted Clemons on several occasions in the months leading up to her death.

On one occasion, prosecutors alleged, Allen slammed Clemons against a brick wall after she called him to fix her car. Clemons' sister said Allen also pulled Clemons to the ground by her hair when she danced with another man at a local nightclub.

Clemons' 9-year-old daughter said she heard the couple arguing the night of the slaying and she saw Allen choke her mother moments before gunshots rang out.

She said she and her three siblings, including a 15-month old, remained in the house with the body for five days. She said she did not call police because she was afraid.

Santacroce on Friday tried to discredit the 9-year-old's testimony, however, noting that there were no strangulation marks found on Clemons' body.

"Is that credible testimony to you?" he asked jurors. "I think not."

Allen fled after the slaying. Clemons' car was found four days later in the parking lot of a local Embassy Suites motel. Allen remained a fugitive for nearly two weeks until he was arrested in Wisconsin and extradited back to Nevada.

"He should have stayed, he should have called 911," Santacroce said. "Does that make him guilty of first-degree murder? No. That makes him guilty of bad judgment."