By Jim Haley
Herald Writer
An Everett man breathed a deep sigh of relief Friday when jurors announced they could not reach a unanimous decision on whether he assaulted two Everett police officers in the seconds before he was felled by police bullets.
The deep breath came from Justin James Chase, 22, after the jury announced they were deadlocked following more than a day of deliberations. Ten Snohomish County Superior Court jurors wanted to acquit him and two held out for conviction on each of two charges.
Chase is charged with two counts of second-degree assault for brandishing a loaded pistol-grip shotgun Oct. 13, not putting it down when officers told him to do so, and for starting to take an offensive shooting position just before he was shot.
He suffered severe injuries that disabled one arm and left him with a limp.
Dave Hiltner, deputy prosecutor, said a decision whether to retry Chase will be made later.
The majority of the jurors sided with Chase and his lawyer, public defender Bill Jaquette, who argued that Chase was hysterical after a confrontation with a man who he believed had a gun.
Chase made a hysterical call to 911 seeking police help and saying he was going to shoot the other man. He quickly unlocked his shotgun and loaded it. Then he ran outside with the shotgun and an infant child. He put the baby in a car before he confronted police.
Jaquette said the evidence showed that Chase was frustrated that the responding officers confronted him rather than looking for the second man he believed might shoot him.
Instead of dropping the shotgun, as repeatedly ordered, Chase grabbed the weapon in both hands and started to take a step forward. That was a move the officers took for him going on the offense.
One of the officers also testified he saw Chase’s finger in the trigger guard, and that’s when the shots were fired.
Just by moving the gun to an offensive position and putting a finger near the trigger was enough to constitute assault, prosecutor Hiltner argued. He said the officer had no choice but to shoot.
Jaquette told jurors what Chase was actually about to comply with the officers, but what he did that night was "stupid." The police did what they had to do, Jaquette said. But he asked the jurors to imagine Chase’s state of mind at the time.
Chase remains in jail. He is being held on $50,000 bail from a second charge involving a fight with his wife — what Hiltner termed "a complicated domestic matter." Trial Judge Gerald Knight refused to add more bail at this time.
You can call Herald Writer Jim Haley at 425-339-3447
or send e-mail to haley@heraldnet.com.
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