Tuba Man killer released from jail, not facing charges Alleged victims don't want charges, prosecutors say

One of the teens who killed Tuba Man Edward McMichael, a well-known Seattle musician, was released from jail Monday night after another alleged victim did not want him to be charged.

Billy G. Chambers, one of three teens convicted for McMichael's death, was arrested a week ago for investigation of robbery. He was scheduled to be released Friday after the alleged robbery victim in that case refused to assist police with the follow-up investigation, according to the King County Prosecutor's Office.

But Chambers was kept in jail over the weekend after Seattle police said he was the getaway driver in another robbery case.

The 16-year-old alleged victim in that case is also refusing to help with a follow-up investigation and indicated she doesn't want to pursue a criminal case, said Dan Donohoe, spokesman for Prosecutor Dan Satterberg.

Seattle police are still investigating both cases for possible charges. Chambers is not facing charges in any current cases.

The most recent case was the fourth criminal incident in which police have investigated Chambers' involvement since he and the two other teens killed McMichael in 2008. He has been charged in only one of those, and pleaded guilty in January to stealing marijuana -- a felony. He was released the afternoon of Jan. 5 with credit for time spent in jail.

The theft case was not considered a strike toward the state's three-strike law, nor was the manslaughter conviction in the McMichael case because that was in juvenile court.

Chambers was arrested again less two weeks later after an incident on a Metro bus. Deputies believed he underpaid his fare, but prosecutors didn't think there was sufficient evidence of unlawful bus conduct and determined he actually overpaid because the Metro youth fare includes 18-year-olds.

However, it was his conduct after the arrest that some officials described as disturbing.

"While he was being searched by Deputy Hill and Deputy Nix, (the teen) bragged to them about being one of the juveniles who killed the Tuba Man," a King County Sheriff's Office incident report states. "He bragged how his lawyer, John Henry Brown (sic), got him off with only three months for stomping Tuba Man to death and how he would get him off for these charges too."

However, high-profile attorney John Henry Browne was not the teen's attorney on the Tuba Man case, in which he received a sentence of 30 to 72 weeks and served all 72. His attorneys were public defenders Daewoo Kim and Hal Palmer, according to the King County Prosecutor's Office.

The two cases in which prosecutors say Chambers is being investigated happened Feb. 17 and Feb. 22.

In the Feb. 22 case, police suspect another teen robbed a 16-year-old girl of her cell phone at gunpoint. Police say Chambers was involved, but he denied having robbed the girl and said that he did not have her cell phone and that there were no weapons, Seattle Police Officer Adam Losleben wrote in a probable-cause statement.

The Feb. 17 case happened near Garfield High School when police say other teens beat a 16-year-old girl so badly her braces were knocked off some of her teeth. Police claim the teens fled in Chambers' car.

Donohoe said the prosecutor's office hadn't been contacted by a defense attorney for Chambers. Boxes for Chambers' phone numbers were left blank on a recent probable-cause document.

Last August, another of the three teens involved in the McMichael case was sentenced to 6 to 8 months in juvenile detention in an unrelated robbery case. Judge Mary Yu sentenced the teen to the high end of the standard sentencing range.

That teen faced a single charge related to a Jan. 22, 2010, incident at a Central District youth center. The robbery occurred shortly after the boy completed his sentence in McMichael's death.

That teen, Chambers, and the other boy convicted for McMichael's death were 15 when he was killed.

For more Seattle police and crime news visit the front page of the Seattle 911 blog.