Trial for a Thurston County couple accused of murdering a man at a Tenino area bar in 2024 began Monday, April 20, with a warning from the judge to a packed courtroom not to influence the jury in any way.
The parties had great difficulty finding jurors who didn’t know about the widely witnessed fatal shooting and the allegations against Curtis and Tabitha Gibson ahead of time. Before opening statements were even delivered, the court had to address an incident from earlier that day where a member of the public tried to speak to a juror at the courthouse’s law library, where the jury was gathered ahead of trial.
“I have directed the attorneys previously, and I will do it again. Anyone associated with your side of the case needs to make sure that they are not anywhere near our jurors. That includes public spaces,” said Judge Carol Murphy.
After some deliberation, all parties ultimately agreed that the incident hadn’t resulted in the jury being tampered with, and allowed the trial to begin.
The trial is expected to take several weeks.
Curtis and Tabitha Gibson, ages 70 and 49, respectively, each face one count of first-degree murder while armed with a firearm.
They are accused of acting out a plan to murder Gaylord “Travis” Sayers at the Old Highway 99 Company Bar and Grill near Tenino on April 16, 2024.
Curtis and Tabitha Gibson had reportedly arrived in a red 2021 Kia Rio at the Old Highway 99 Company Bar and Grill at approximately 5:44 p.m. on April 16, following a verbal altercation with Sayers at the same venue roughly two to three hours prior.
Sayers and members of the biker group he was associated with, UMF of America Northwest Chapter, were still at the Old Highway 99 when the Gibsons returned.
Curtis Gibson was in the driver’s seat and Tabitha Gibson was in the passenger seat when the Kia pulled in at a high rate of speed, stopping suddenly in front of UMF members’ parked motorcycles.
Sayers and at least one other UMF member reportedly approached the driver’s side of the Kia to confront Curtis Gibson.
An altercation ensued.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Emily Dawson told the jury during her opening statement Monday that Sayers was “going to go back and try and get them to leave again” after he effectively “confronted them before and got them to leave safely.”
One of Curtis Gibson’s defense attorneys, Patrick O’Connor however, cited witnesses who reported that the UMF member who was with Sayers, Greg Torres, had punched Curtis Gibson in the face and smashed his phone on the ground.
Sometime during the altercation, Tabitha Gibson got out of the vehicle on the passenger side and another UMF member, later identified as Tabitha Gibson’s ex-husband, possibly grabbed her by the arm.
From the driver’s seat, Curtis Gibson allegedly fired his revolver out the window three times, striking Sayers.
Sayers died at the scene.
Investigators later determined that Sayers had sustained two gunshot wounds, one on his right side and one on the center of his chest. Fragments from a third bullet were found stuck in keys that were in Sayers pocket.
The altercation continued after Sayers went down, with bar patrons restraining both Curtis and Tabitha Gibson and slashing the Kia’s tires so the suspects couldn’t flee.
Multiple witnesses called 911 at 5:44 p.m. to report the shooting and inform police that they had disarmed the suspect and were holding him down on the ground.
They reported that the gun had gone off once while they were disarming Curtis Gibson, but that the bullet didn’t strike anyone.
Investigators later found four bullet casings at the scene, and one live round in Curtis Gibson’s revolver.
The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, along with the Tenino Police Department and Tenino Fire Department, responded to the 911 calls at 5:45 p.m.
Curtis Gibson had blood all over his face, and an obvious laceration and injury to his eye when officers arrived at the scene.
Responding officers also noted that Tabitha Gibson showed signs of severe intoxication.
Both Curtis and Tabitha Gibson were arrested at the scene, though initially, only Curtis Gibson was charged with first-degree murder.
Tabitha Gibson was released after her initial arrest, but was re-arrested May 6 and charged as her husband’s co-defendant on May 8.
The prosecution alleges that the couple’s decision to return to the Old Highway 99 after leaving the initial altercation with Sayers and having more drinks at a different bar constitutes premeditation.
"In this case, you're going to hear from firearms experts, and you're going to hear from law enforcement and the coroner and many, many people who were out there that day and saw the result of each and every one of those choices by the Gibsons. And what the state believes is that when you have heard all that evidence, you have seen all of those witnesses, it will be clear to you, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Curtis and Tabitha Gibson are guilty of murder in the first degree,” Dawson told the jury on Monday.
The defense does not dispute that Curtis Gibson killed Sayers, but rather that he acted in self defense when attacked by UMF members.
“By the time he puts his car in park and the time he pulls the trigger, almost a minute of time passes by,” O’Connor said. “Almost a minute is when he makes that decision to shoot. That’s why this is self defense.”
Tabitha Gibson’s defense attorney, Karl Hack, maintains that she was “a very tangential participant in this whole fracas that occurred,” and that she is innocent by nature of not being involved.
“I anticipate the state arguing that Mrs. Gibson is just as guilty as Mr. Gibson … If he's guilty, they'll argue, ‘in for a penny, in for a pound.’ She was somehow part of it,” Hack said.
The court notably ruled Monday that Curtis and Tabitha Gibson don’t have the benefit of marital privilege that would have protected them from testifying or otherwise provide incriminating evidence against each other.
The court found that Curtis Gibson was already married at the time he and Tabitha Gibson held a wedding ceremony in 2017, making their marriage invalid.
It had not been publicly confirmed Monday whether either defendant would be taking the stand.
