PORT ANGELES — A Clallam County jury found a Sequim man guilty of two charges of second-degree assault while armed with a semi-automatic handgun during a Feb. 17 confrontation with two men.
Keith Roberson, 56, said during the trial he was acting in self-defense while high on methamphetamine during the South Barr Road incident when he fired what he said were warning shots.
He had been charged with first-degree assault against one man at the South Barr Road residence and second-degree assault against a second man who was there at the time.
Roberson, a landscaper, could receive 11 years in prison on the convictions, which would include a mandatory 10 years because a firearm was involved, said his lawyer, Ralph Anderson of Port Angeles.
Superior Court Judge Brian Coughenour agreed Thursday at Anderson’s request that Roberson can undergo a mental health evaluation before his 9 a.m. Feb. 8 sentencing hearing.
Anderson said in an interview that the mitigating factors in Roberson’s behavior that could lower his client’s sentence were Roberson’s drug use and the death of his wife.
Roberson remained in the Clallam County jail Thursday on $75,000 bail.
Roberson claimed he was being chased through the woods at about 2:15 a.m. Feb. 17 when he ended up on the porch of the South Barr Road residence, according to the county sheriff’s office arrest report.
A South Barr Road-area 9-1-1 caller — one of the victims — told a dispatcher that Roberson was holding a gun on his neighbor’s porch and yelling at his neighbor “to get out of there” when Roberson fired the handgun.
The bullet embedded in a fence 8 feet away from the 9-1-1 caller, who was standing in his neighbor’s driveway, according to the report.
The caller had gone to the driveway to tell the 9-1-1 dispatcher the address of the porch where Roberson was standing.
Roberson also fired his gun when a neighbor approached Roberson with a flashlight and Roberson fired his gun to the south, according to the arrest report.
“Roberson said he needed help and asked that he call the police,” according to the report.
“Roberson was acting erratic and saying people were chasing him through the woods, trying to hurt him.”
The man on whose back porch Roberson was standing went into his house while he, too, was talking to a 9-1-1 dispatcher.
Roberson followed him inside, pointing a gun at him several times and saying at one point, “If I’m going out, I’m not going out alone,” according to the arrest report.
Authorities said the man was on the phone with 9-1-1 for about an hour while Roberson acted in a threatening manner with the gun.
Roberson’s gun “was intentionally pointed at him,” the man told authorities.
Roberson was the only witness Anderson called at the trial, which during testimony and closing arguments was presided over by Judge Christopher Melly.
Roberson said during testimony that he fired a shot “to get attention” and “to get help.” He said he “was a very scared person.”
When handed the phone by the man to prove that 9-1-1 was on the line, Roberson said he “never made contact” with anyone on the phone.
“I never talked to them,” he said.
Asked by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney April King during cross-examination if his methamphetamine use that night might have affected his hearing or sight, he responded, “No, I don’t.”
Anderson said his client did not point his gun at anyone.
He asserted during closing arguments that Roberson became fearful when someone pulled up behind him while he was parked in a vehicle near South Barr Road.
He said Roberson could claim self-defense if he believed he was in danger of bodily harm even if it turns out there was no reason to be fearful.
“There was no evidence that he intended to create harm,” Anderson said.
But King said Roberson made his victims fear for their lives — enough to convict him.
Assault is committed “with the intent to create in another apprehension and fear of bodily injury,” according to the jury instructions.
“In our society, people do not have the right to just take shots at other people and put that other person in that kind of fear,” King said.
There was no evidence to support Roberson’s claim he was acting in self-defense, King added.
His spent handgun shells were found in the carport of the South Barr Road home, she added.
“He was out of control,” King said of Roberson.
“He can feel justified until the day he dies, [but] it doesn’t make it so.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.