Casey Specht, left, is escorted out of a Lewis County Superior Court room after a sentencing hearing on Wednesday afternoon at the Lewis County Law and Justice Center in Chehalis.
Casey Specht, left, enters a Lewis County Superior Court room prior to a sentencing hearing on Wednesday afternoon at the Lewis County Law and Justice Center in Chehalis.
Casey Specht, left, and his mother, Penny Specht, right, react after Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey decided that Specht would receive the maximum allowed penalty of 43 months in jail during his sentencing hearing on Wednesday afternoon at the Lewis County Law and Justice Center in Chehalis. Specht, 36, was charged in December with two counts of vehicular assault and one count each of third- and fourth-degree assault.
A Puyallup man who recently pleaded guilty to causing a December crash that injured three people — then assaulting a state Trooper and a good Samaritan — was sentenced Wednesday to spend more than three years in prison.
“I can’t explain how much it’s affected our lives and our kids’ lives,” crash victim Jason McMeekin said in court Wednesday while detailing his extensive injuries. “I haven’t been able to pick up my 1-year-old.”
Casey Michael Specht, 36, has been in custody at the Lewis County Jail since his arrest on vehicular assault charges on Dec. 3. He was sentenced Wednesday to 43 months in prison for three counts of vehicular assault, and one count each of third- and fourth-degree assault.
“I’m extremely remorseful,” an emotional Specht said Wednesday during his sentencing hearing. “I am a family man. I understand the impact this has had on the victims. I’ve had 97 days to think about this, and it looks like I’ll have a couple hundred more.”
According to the Washington State Patrol, Specht was driving a 2012 Chrysler 300 southbound in the left lane of Interstate 5 at milepost 68, 7 miles south of Chehalis Dec. 3 when he hit the rear end of a 2012 Ford F-350 truck.
“The State Patrol put him in excess of 100 miles per hour,” Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead said at the sentencing hearing Wednesday. The truck was traveling at about 70 miles per hour.
The truck then crossed the right lane and the shoulder, went off the road and struck a tree, injuring its three occupants, including driver Jaymee J. McMeekin, of Aberdeen, and passengers William A. Boley and and Jason C. McMeekin, both of Elma.
“The injuries here were severe,” Halstead said.
Jason McMeekin spoke about his injuries and the affect they have had on his life Wednesday in court.
McMeekin said his humerus bone was shattered, and said the tendons in his shoulder were ripped from the bone from the force of the heavy truck hitting a tree at 70 miles per hour. His shoulder was dislocated, and he has lingering nerve damage making it nearly impossible for the carpenter to use his arm.
Boley had the worst injuries, including crushed vertebrae, severed intestines, and other injuries, Halstead said. McMeekin said Boley was physically unable to be in court Wednesday.
Specht was not injured, but his vehicle was badly damaged.
According to court documents, troopers arrived at the scene and contacted the three occupants of the Ford, one of whom reported Specht had also punched him and a “good Samaritan” at the scene.
The trooper contacted Specht, who allegedly refused to get out of his vehicle and threw items from the car at the trooper, leading to the third-degree assault charge. The trooper asked Specht to step out of the vehicle again, then deployed his Taser and struck Specht, who was taken into custody.
Specht pleaded guilty last month as part of a plea agreement.
Halstead noted that the Prosecutor’s Office initially offered Specht a plea on just the three counts of vehicular assault, with a sentence recommendation of 29 months, but the state Trooper involved objected to the third-degree assault charge being dropped. Specht instead pleaded guilty to all the charges.
Specht’s attorney, Shane O’Rourke, said his client wanted to take responsibility for his actions.
Halstead recommended a total sentence of 38 months, or just over three years.
However, after hearing from one of the victims in the crash, Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey sentenced Specht to 43 months, or more than 3½ years, the maximum allowed under the law for the crime.
“The thing that strikes me more than anything else about this … is the utter lack of a rational explanation for how something like this happened in the first place,” Brosey said. “That’s a truly frightening situation.”
Specht admitted in court that he has a problem with alcohol and said he has sought treatment while incarcerated. Court documents listed his blood-alcohol level at .096 according to a portable breath test at the scene of the crash. A blood test showed a level of .064 later in the day, Halstead said.
Brosey found a chemical dependency contributed to the crime.
In addition to his prison time, Specht will also be required to serve 18 months of community custody with the state Department of Corrections on one count, and 12 months on a second.
He will not be allowed to have contact with the victims for 10 years.
