Man gets 120 years for shooting at police (WA)

The Columbian ^ | February 3, 2009 | John Branton

[jazusamo]

In his trial on Feb. 12, Matthew Hastings
listened to Judge John Wulle as he read
court documents and found Hastings guilty
of attempted murder and assault.
(TROY WAYRYNEN/The Columbian.)

Matthew Hastings' sentencing hearing exploded into angry bellowing between him and Superior Court Judge John Wulle on Monday as 10 or more custody officers stood by to prevent violence.

During the first heated exchange, Wulle yelled for Hastings to "Shut your damn mouth, sir!" Wulle then sentenced Hastings to about 120 years in prison for firing gunshots at SWAT officers during a standoff in Cascade Park on July 18, 2007. One shot seriously injured an officer, who has since returned to duty.

Hastings, 30, had been convicted in a jury trial last month of four counts of attempted first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree assault.

When first brought into the courtroom in chains, Hastings seemed calm and resigned to his fate.

He sat back in his chair and smiled at family members and friends in the audience, and at his attorneys, Chuck Buckley and Steve Rucker.

Deputy Prosecutor Scott Jackson, calculating his proposed sentence according to complex state guidelines, asked for the high end the range allowed, about 120 years.

Buckley asked for the lower end, about 90 years, asking for leniency because Hastings has significant mental-health issues.

Four mental health experts testified in the trial,. None said he was too mentally ill to form an intent to kill.

Wulle asked Hastings if he had anything to say, and Hastings replied, "No your honor," in a deep, loud voice.

Wulle then told Hastings a typical rapist or murderer would have mental-health issues, but that his issues didn't rise to the level required by state law in a court sentencing.

Asked if he'd graduated from high school, Hastings said no and suddenly became enraged, his face and neck flushing red.

"Mr. Hastings, don't you press your luck with me, son!" Wulle warned in a loud voice.

"Or what?" Hastings yelled.

"Shut your damn mouth, sir!" Wulle yelled, threatening to have Hastings gagged.

"OK, have me gagged then," Hastings bellowed.

Wulle then told Hastings that, in view of his conduct and disregard for the law, "I am accepting the state's recommendation."

"Good for you!" Hastings shouted, adding "I'll take another."

Noting that Hastings was in contempt of court, Wulle asked the prosecutor and defense attorneys to step into his quarters.

Left in the courtroom with the audience and several custody and police officers, Hastings began sending eye daggers at sheriff's Deputy Scott Holmes.

Holmes, who was standing across the room, was part of the SWAT entry team that confronted Hastings as he fired as many as 19 shots at them. Vancouver police Cpl. Chris LeBlanc took a bullet under his arm and was pulled out of the house.

Addressing Holmes and other officers in the courtroom, the tall, burly Hastings shouted, "I'd like you (obscenities) to try to put a gag on me! I think it would be fun."

Hastings then taunted the officers with obscenities, calling them "punks" and questioning their courage for retreating after LeBlanc was shot.

"Do I look concerned?" an officer asked him.

Wulle then returned to the courtroom and apologized to the audience for saying "Damn."

"Mr. Hastings pushed my buttons," Wulle said. "I do apologize if I offended anyone in this courtroom."

Wulle then said Hastings had shown no respect for him or the court.

Wulle added, "The only thing I can say to you, on behalf of the citizens of this community, is bye bye!"

"Bye bye, is that it, two words, bye bye?" Hastings asked. "You're smarter than that your honor!"

Hastings, being held in his chair by officers, verbally attacked Wulle for his apology.

"Whoops, you kind of stepped on your mouth, huh? Don't call my bluff! That's going to be on the record, just like me, Pop!"

[jazusamo]

Matthew Hastings is no mental giant.

[Inyo-Mono]

What an absolute idiot! Glad he’s going up the river, for a long time.

[rednesss]

"Good for you!" Hastings shouted, adding "I'll take another."

Thank you sir, may I have another?

[Zack Attack]

At least he showed remorse. *sigh*

[jazusamo]

Hi I-M. He sure is but at least he’ll have plenty of time to get his GED. :-)

[Inyo-Mono]

Maybe they could throw a mountain lion in the cell with him.

[Bean Counter]

This guy is not just an idiot, he’s a violent idiot who shot at the Police, wounded an Officer, and touched off an armed confrontation in a residential neighborhood. If anything, I think it’s great that this dickhead went off in Court, on the Judge, and before sentencing.

We won’t have to worry about this one getting out on parlole any time soon...

[Hebrews 11:6]

I’ve never understood why incompetence at murder, resulting in attempted murder, should lessen the sentence. Here’s an example where apparently it didn’t.

[jazusamo]

I totally agree and remember the incident, it’s amazing an officer wasn’t killed.

[jazusamo]

You’ve got it right! It doesn’t matter in the least to the person killed or wounded whether the murderer was incompetent and the incompetency shouldn’t be a factor.

[babygene]

“This guy is not just an idiot, he’s a violent idiot who shot at the Police, wounded an Officer, and touched off an armed confrontation in a residential neighborhood.”

So... Are you sure he didn’t have a good reason? Why would somebody shoot at cops for no reason?

[babygene]

Oh, He was insane..

Hasting’s estranged wife was also outside the home, trying to help police. Abia Hastings told KGW she was worried about Matthew’s safety, but police would not allow her to communicate directly with him.

Hastings was married to Matthew for seven years before they separated. She said he was a diagnosed as schizophrenic and did not always take his medication. She said he knew police were looking for him and he was afraid of going back to prison. She described Matthew as paranoid and said he worried about everything.

The owner of the rental home where Hastings was holed up said other than noise complaints by neighbors, he had not encountered any problems there before.

[Big_Harry]

"This guy is not just an idiot, he’s a violent idiot who shot at the Police..."

While this fellow may well be an idiot, not everyone who shoots at the police can be characterized in this way. The time is rapidly approaching where we all may be forced with making that decision, especially with the country in the control of Marxists. Law enforcement all over the United States are adopting dress and tactics meant for the intimidation of the civilian population. What do you think that they may be preparing for?

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Other background to this case. Apparently the defendant was diagnosed with mental illness, but his county provides no appreciable mental health treatment for the mentally ill even worse than him, and had refused him help several times.

The police on scene had been advised that he was mentally ill by his wife and neighbors. He had been calmly discussing the situation with a police negotiator when the SWAT team arrived. With little hesitation, or asking what was going on, the SWAT team then kicked down his door and came a-chargin’ with their guns drawn. He then shot one in the arm, and the SWAT team ran away.

The defendant was not permitted psychiatric evaluation until he had been given medication and was determined to be “stable”.

In his criminal trial, the jury took only 3 hours to return 11 counts of guilty with 72 addenda. One of the jurors apparently slept through closing arguments. The jury also wrote affirming guilt on papers that did not pertain to the case, that were nearby their stack of papers, so it is unlikely that they actually read them.

[jazusamo]

If that’s all true I’d say his lawyer has one heck of a case for appeal.

I won’t argue the case but I find it very hard to believe SWAT arrived and kicked a door down without conferring with those at scene.

[Bean Counter]

It’s flat out irresponsible for you to advocate shooting at the Police, especially when it is clear that you don’t have a clue about the background of this case.

This incident happened three blocks from my house, as I live in East Vancouver, Washington. We have had our fair share of violent idiots in this town, the latest of which resulted in the stabbing death of a 13 year old girl. The incident before that was a paranoid schitzo sex offender who stabbed 16 year old girl to death inside of a local McDonald’s restaurant. Last year we had another violent asshole shoot and kill a working Police Dog.

I recognize and fully support the Second Amendment of the Constitution. This case ain’t about the Second Amendment, and there is nothing funny or amusing about this asshole mouthing off to the Judge the way he did. If anything, this guy proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he deserves to be locked in the deepest, darkest hole we can find, and kept there till he dies.

This guy is symptomatic of the larger problems we have allowed to breed in this Country, and there are plenty more like him out there, probably living near you or where your kids go to school. This guy was firing live rounds in my neighborhood, and across the street from our local high school. I thank God the police were able to resolve this when they did without any loss of life, and with only one Police Officer shot in the line of duty.

Please, think about that for a while before making any more snarky comments...

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

SWAT has become a nationwide problem for a simple reason: there are so few legitimate applications for SWAT that they are being deployed for other purposes. This is a recipe for trouble.

Remember the Baltimore area mayor whose home was raided and his dogs killed in a neighboring town SWAT mistake? He is now advocating “a bill that would require local jurisdictions to file reports to a central state body when SWAT teams are deployed” in his State.

In short, he noted that many SWAT activities are not logged under normal police procedural records. This results in mistakes not being reported, and subsequently corrected. But again, this goes to the misapplication of SWAT in the first place.

If SWAT teams duly record that “forcible entry warrant was served without resistance”, and “after securing the address it was noted that the warrant was for an apartment three doors down”, in short order, questions will be raised.

[vox_freedom]

Golly, I liked the part where the defense attorney suggested 90 years.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahah, hehehehehehehehehe, hahahahahahahaha.
What a laugh, that is too funny!!!

[jazusamo]

That jumped out at me too. LOL!

[SIDENET]

Dude just needs to switch to decaf.