Insyxiengmay

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Crime

On August 24, 1994, four high school boys drove down a Tacoma, Washington street throwing eggs at houses. Some of those eggs splattered on “the snake house,” a hangout for a local gang called the Original Loco Boyz. Oloth Insyxieng- may, Nga Ngoeung, and Soutthanom Misaengsay1 were asso- ciated with the gang. All three were juveniles in 1994; Insyxiengmay was fifteen years old.

Insyxiengmay, Ngoeung, and Misaengsay were outside the snake house during the egging. Believing that the attack was gang-related, Insyxiengmay entered the house and grabbed the owner’s rifle. All three boys scrambled into a silver Buick and, with Ngoeung driving, proceeded to follow the other car. According to Misaengsay, it was Insyxiengmay who put the rifle out of the window and fired at the other boys’ car. The driver and front seat passenger of that car were shot and killed.

The three returned to the snake house after the shootings. Insyxiengmay handed the rifle to Wendy West, the only per- son present in the house, and told her to get rid of it. Insy- xiengmay said, “We shot them up. We shot them up. They threw eggs at us, the Rickets.…