A Centralia man convicted for stabbing his father to death and injuring his mother in November 2019 has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Joshua L. Fleck, 31, of Centralia, was sentenced in Lewis County Superior Court on Wednesday. He had entered Alford pleas, allowing him to take advantage of a plea bargain without admitting guilt, to second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder on March 30.
Fleck cited “mental health issues” as the reason for his plea.
“I just want everybody to know I wasn’t in my right mind like I am now,” Fleck said during his sentencing hearing on Wednesday. “I understand what I did was wrongdoing. I would change it if I could.”
Fleck was initially charged with was charged with first-degree murder, domestic violence and second-degree attempted murder, domestic violence on Nov. 13, 2019, and was held in custody on a $5 million bail.
He had been accused of stabbing his father, Donovan C. Fleck, 48, of Centralia, numerous times in the neck, killing him, then stabbing his mother in the neck when she attempted to intervene. She was able to escape through a window to a neighboring residence, according to previous Chronicle reporting.
When officers arrived on the scene in the 1100 block of South Pearl Street, they found several people pointing toward a person identified as Joshua Fleck, who was talking on a cellphone and appeared to have an injury to his hand that was bleeding, according to previous Chronicle reporting.
Upon his arrest, Fleck allegedly admitted to killing his father and wounding his mother, and told police he thought about killing his father on “numerous occasions prior to this incident,” according to previous Chronicle reporting.
A psychiatrist determined on Nov. 27, 2019, that Fleck was not mentally capable of standing trial and his case was put on hold until March 16, 2020, while Fleck underwent competency restoration treatment at Western State Hospital.
On Dec. 2, 2019, before he was admitted to Western State for treatment, Fleck sent a letter to Lewis County Superior Court confessing his guilt.
He entered not guilty pleas on April 30, 2020, after completing treatment at Western State.
Fleck’s mother gave a statement during Fleck’s sentencing hearing Wednesday chronicling the severe physical and mental pain she has been in since Fleck killed her husband and stabbed her in the side of the head in 2019.
She stated Fleck had attacked them because he thought they took his marijuana.
“No matter what I look at, I can see what happened,” she said Wednesday. She advocated for a life sentence for Fleck so he would be forced to undergo mental health treatment.
“From the very beginning, she has always expressed to me that she wants him to serve as much time in prison as possible because she believes he will do this again,” Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said.
Fleck’s mother said she felt a lengthy prison sentence was the only way to ensure Fleck followed through with mental health treatment.
“No parent should have to do this to their own child,” she said.
All parties agreed that Fleck’s mental health issues significantly contributed to the crimes he was convicted of.
“Clearly my client has suffered from mental health issues for years and years and years,” said Defense Attorney Don Blair on Wednesday.
Blair had intended to plead innocent by reason of insanity in Fleck’s case during trial, which would have begun March 29 had the parties not come to a plea agreement.
“I believe what he pled guilty to is what he would have been found guilty of if our insanity plea had failed,” Blair said.
While Meagher asked Judge J. Andrew Toynbee to give Fleck the maximum sentence allotted by his standard sentencing range for the two crimes — 477 months — and Blair asked Toynbee to sentence Fleck in the middle of the range at 360 months, Toynbee opted to sentence Fleck slightly below the top of the range at 420 months.
Toynbee acknowledged his sentence was only 2 1/4 years shorter than the maximum, “But I think it does reflect the interplay of mental health issues in this behavior,” he said.
Toynbee took a moment to specifically address Fleck’s mother after delivering his sentence, thanking her for telling her story during the hearing and apologizing for the “prison of pain” she has lived in since the 2019 incident.
“Few people can fully understand that I can impose a sentence here upon your son, but you have already been sentenced,” he said to Fleck’s mother.
In addition to Fleck’s prison sentence, Toynbee also issued a lifetime no-contact order protecting Fleck’s mother.
Fleck is required to serve 36 months on probation upon his release and will be required to pay restitution, the amount of which will be determined at a later hearing.
