Man on trial for murder in Thurston County arrested in connection with Yakima shooting

Police in Yakima say a man already on trial for murder in Thurston County is now a suspect in a 2017 homicide there.

Dallas F. Martin, 20, was arrested last week on a warrant for second-degree murder. He is accused of shooting 26-year-old Noel Moctezuma at Moctezuma's apartment in Yakima in February 2017.

A witness led investigators to Martin, according to Mike Bastinelli, public information officer for the Yakima Police Department. Bastinelli declined to provide more details but said the shooting was not drug or gang related.

Martin is currently at the Thurston County jail while on trial for the shooting death of Alex Thomas-Anderson, 19, in October 2015.

Prosecutors say Martin and his co-defendant, Andre Wiley, went to a home on Ruddell Road outside Lacey to buy marijuana. They argued with at least two men there about weapons and money, according to court documents. Martin allegedly shot in the direction of one of the men, hitting Thomas-Anderson instead.

Martin was arrested shortly after the shooting but released in March 2016 on $500,000 bail. He was ordered not to leave the state and not to break the law.

A bench warrant was issued in September after Martin was arrested in Los Angeles. Police there say he tried to recruit two undercover officers to work as prostitutes, according to court documents. He has been in jail since then.

Six others were charged in connection with the Ruddell Road shooting. Five of them are set to testify at the trial, which started June 4 and is scheduled to continue through August.

The case in Yakima will have no effect on the Thurston County trial, said Mark Thompson, senior deputy prosecuting attorney for Thurston County, adding authorities here were aware of that investigation prior to last week.

This story was originally published June 19, 2018 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Man on trial for murder in Thurston County arrested in connection with Yakima shooting."