Posted on 03/13/2008 6:37:58 PM PDT by NoWayMcCain
WENATCHEE — A Wenatchee man who fired a shotgun at a Ron Paul presidential campaign sign in the yard of a Ninth Street residence has been sentenced to 10 months in jail.
Michael A. Henken fired a shotgun at the sign while riding as a passenger in a truck in December.
He pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and aiming or discharging a firearm and was sentenced in Chelan County Superior Court on Feb. 20.
Henken, 23, fired the gun, which was loaded with buckshot, after he and his girlfriend got into a fight, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Wenatchee police Detective Terry Adcock.
Some of the buckshot hit the sign and some hit the siding of the home, which was occupied, said Chelan County Prosecutor Gary Riesen. No one was hurt.
Riesen said Henken did not give a motivation for firing the gun at the sign.
"If it would have been an Obama sign, who knows if he would have shot at it," Riesen said Wednesday afternoon.
In sentencing documents Henken stated he "assaulted another person with a deadly weapon by unlawfully firing a shotgun from a moving vehicle."
According to Adcock's affidavit, Justin Z. Dill, 26, of Cashmere, drove the pickup from which Henken fired on Dec. 2.
Dill was sentenced March 5 to eight months in jail after he pleaded guilty to complicity to second-degree assault.
Both men were originally charged with drive-by shooting and unlawful imprisonment.
The drive-by shooting charges were later reduced to assault.
An 18-year-old woman was a passenger in the truck when the shots were fired. The three went to a hotel after the incident, according to court records.
The affidavit states the woman said both Henken and Dill threatened to kill her when the three were in the hotel room, with Henken going so far as to point a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic Glock pistol at her head.
Henken and Dill were arrested after the woman sent a text message to her boyfriend and her boyfriend phoned the police.
The unlawful-imprisonment charges against the men were dismissed because of conflicting statements between the woman and the two men, Riesen said.
Yeah, that is lenient.
If it had been a Obomba sign would that have been a “hate” crime?
I’m sorry, but the guy’s an idiot...
I have no problem with shooting signs. Shooting houses that have people inside them is quite another matter.
Reality check:
Firing a shotgun recklessly in town, in such a way you hit an occupied house - then threatening others with another gun, is the reason for the sentence.
Not shooting a sign. Please.
Now highways sign are fair game. Most of the ones in Wyoming have several bullet holes in them, at least on the older 2 lane state highways.
‘The affidavit states the woman said both Henken and Dill threatened to kill her when the three were in the hotel room, with Henken going so far as to point a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic Glock pistol at her head.’
WTF?
Why is the sign the headline?
‘Henken and Dill were arrested after the woman sent a text message to her boyfriend and her boyfriend phoned the police.
The unlawful-imprisonment charges against the men were dismissed because of conflicting statements between the woman and the two men, Riesen said.’
Crazy. Isn’t the trial gonna fix that one?
You know, Eaker doesn't like Ron Paul either.
Man gets 10 months for reckless endangerment
I was the best road sign busta with a coke bottle of all my peers when I was in high school. Now I stick to hitting them with apple cores.
John
Hold my beer....
RuhRoh!
Should have used bird shot with open choke on a political sign
$50 it wasn’t ‘buckshot’. The MSM knows nothing of ballistics or firearms.
What a coinkydink! Several Ron Paul supporters were caught shooting at Chris Peden’s (his primary challenger) signs in Congressional District 14 in Texas.
‘according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Wenatchee police Detective Terry Adcock.’
The buckshot came from the affidavit.
When I went to law school, in order to get charged with assault, it had to be a person, not a sign, you assaulted.
Some people are extra protected by the law. My white Christian wife however, if murdered and raped, she would just be a normal person.
—
“second-degree assault and aiming or discharging a firearm”
He's an idiot. OK, so what? It's not illegal to be stupid, but judges making statements or with an agenda should not be tolerated.
ASSAULT ON WHAT? The sign? This makes no frigging sense. That guy should be tried for being negligent in some way. Operating a fire arm in city limits and from a moving vehicle, but ASSAULT? What, is some shrink going to state that the owner of the sign, or Ron Paul are in some way hurt or threatened by a drive by sign shooting? Is the guy that emplaced the sign now suffering from mental anguish or some other trumped up BS? Give me a break! What's the difference between kids throwing rocks at signs while driving?
The idiots deserve to go to jail. Never fire a gun in the city limits and especially not in someone’s yard. They could have killed someone. That was bad enough but when they pointed a loaded gun at her head, they crossed the line. They should have got more time than that. It’s loose cannons like them that give gun owners a bad name.
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