Finley man gets 7-year sentence for 2013 crash with two patrol cars

A Finley man was sentenced Wednesday to seven years and two months in prison for a 2013 crash that left law enforcement running for their lives.

Shane K. DeWeber, 34, called it the biggest mistake of his life.

In a sentencing hearing that started last Friday, DeWeber said he respects law enforcement before apologizing to officers and thanking them for not killing him.

DeWeber had asked officers responding to the disturbance at his estranged wife’s home to shoot him. He then led them on a chase that topped 100 mph before he plowed his truck into two parked patrol cars.

Benton County sheriff’s Sgt. Mathew Clarke and Kennewick police Officer Liz Grant were putting spike strips across Haney Road when they saw DeWeber point his Dodge Ram at their cars on the gravel shoulder. They ran away and were hit by flying debris as the truck catapulted over the patrol cars.

DeWeber reportedly took about 250 psycho-stimulant pills before the Oct. 8, 2013, incident.

He told Superior Court Judge Cameron Mitchell he has been in the Tri-Cities a long time, has a job waiting for him after he is released from prison, and just wants to get back to being a productive member of society. He plans to try to share his story about depression and how failing to properly treat diabetes can lead to similar behavior.

“I don’t ever want to be that man I was that night,” DeWeber said. “I live in shame.”

A Benton County Superior Court jury convicted DeWeber in January of two counts of second-degree assault and one count of attempting to elude police. The assaults included the aggravating circumstance that the victims were law enforcement officers performing their duties.

DeWeber originally was charged with two counts of first-degree assault, but the jury acquitted him on those and opted to go with the lesser crimes.

Deputies had been called to the East Bowles Road home of DeWeber’s wife at 4:11 a.m. for reports that he was pounding on her door, trying to get in through a window and acting as though he was under the influence of narcotics.

DeWeber was armed with a sword, ignored commands to drop the weapon and wasn’t affected when a deputy tried to stun him with a Taser.

As the ensuing high-speed chase moved through Finley, with DeWeber often driving on the wrong side of the road, law enforcement eventually backed off out of concern for the public.

After the crash, he crawled out of his pickup and tried to attack the officers on foot. Another Taser again had no effect on him, but he was subdued by officers and taken to the hospital for treatment.

DeWeber told jurors in his trial that he didn’t recall anything from the time he took the 90-day supply of Adderall prescribed for ADHD to when he woke up in the hospital.

Text messages later viewed by investigators showed he wanted to die “suicide by cop.”

Deputy Prosecutor Terry Bloor, who handled the case with Deputy Prosecutor Brendan Siefken, said law enforcement was targeted that morning and their restraint in not shooting DeWeber was exemplary.

“The man in the courtroom tried to kill police officers and I believe he knew exactly what he was doing,” Officer Grant said at sentencing.

Defense attorney Catherine Harkins told the court that DeWeber was prepared to plead guilty to second-degree assault, but they went to trial because prosecutors wouldn’t negotiate down from first-degree assault.

DeWeber was having mental health issues at the time, including several prior attempts to commit suicide, but now he feels lucky to be alive, she said.

“He was in a bad place with his mental health,” Harkins said.

DeWeber’s felony history includes a 1998 second-degree assault conviction and a 2009 conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm. He also has misdemeanor convictions.

The standard range for second-degree assault is two years and nine months to three years and seven months.

Harkins asked for a sentencing within the standard range, while prosecutors recommended DeWeber be ordered to serve the maximum of 10 years behind bars for the crime.

Mitchell determined that the law enforcement factor supported an exceptional sentence. He doubled the top of the range for the 7-year term.

DeWeber has the right to appeal his conviction and the exceptional sentence.

An issue on appeal may be that jurors noted on the two special verdict forms that the victims were law enforcement performing their official duties, however they left off the part that DeWeber knew they were officers.

Mitchell ruled Wednesday that the jury instructions were proper in covering the special verdicts.

Staff writer Tyler Richardson contributed to this report.

This story was originally published March 4, 2015 at 10:42 PM with the headline "Finley man gets 7-year sentence for 2013 crash with two patrol cars."