San Juan man gets two years probation for attempted assault
Published 3:17 pm Tuesday, May 19, 2015
A San Juan Island man who initially faced a charge of felony assault will serve two years on probation and the likelihood of no time in jail after pleading guilty to a lesser offense.
On May 4, Eric Michael King pleaded guilty in San Juan County Superior Court to one count of third-degree attempted assault, a gross misdemeanor. He had initially been arraigned in late February on a charge of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon following an altercation with another man in which he allegedly brandished a knife. He pleaded not guilty to the felony offense at that time.
Under the sentence handed down by Judge Don Eaton, the 35-year-old was ordered to serve 24 months probation as part of a two-year suspended sentence that will eliminate a potential 364-day jail term if he complies with a series of court orders, which include undergoing a mental health evaluation within 45 days of sentencing and following whatever treatment may be recommended.
He was also ordered to pay $700 in fines and fees.
According to court documents, King first confronted and then initiated an altercation with another man in a clash over his estranged, longtime girlfriend in early January. The former couple were separated at the time.
The other man told authorities King brandished a knife and threatened him with it during the altercation. King’s estranged girlfriend, who was at the scene, reportedly told authorities that she never saw a knife but her former boyfriend was known to carry one.
Friday Harbor attorney Stephen Brandli, representing King in the case, claims the knife that King carried at the time fell out of his pocket and onto the ground during the altercation, but was never brandished by his client, according to court documents.
The penalties handed down by Eaton had been agreed upon by prosecutors and by King prior to sentencing.
The sentence brings a close to one of two felony cases involving the 35-year-old in the past four months, the first in which he was an alleged assailant, the other in which he is allegedly the victim.
On March 23, King suffered life-threatening wounds in an altercation involving a knife with a lifelong San Juan Island resident. He was flown off-island for treatment and in stable condition the following day.
Prosecutors claim that Victor James Capron, born and raised on San Juan, stabbed King several times when a dispute over the potential sale of a $100 pickup erupted into an altercation.
Capron, who has no history of violent crime, faces one count of first-degree assault with a deadly weapon. The 56-year-old is slated to stand trial July 13.
— Scott Rasmussen
