PORT ANGELES — One of three people involved in a December 2020 robbery and shooting in the Sequim area has been sentenced to 20 years in prison with credit for time served.
Chad D. Smith, 46, of Tacoma pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in Clallam County Superior Court on June 7.
He also was sentenced to 36 months community custody after he is released from prison. The community custody includes using no controlled substances, including marijuana, without a valid prescription and a lifetime no-contact order against the victim.
The sentencing was the culmination of a more than two-year investigation into a December 2020 robbery and shooting in the 800 block of Youngquist Road in Sequim.
The victim was shot twice in the legs and robbed of three pounds of methamphetamine with an estimated street value between $21,000 and $39,000, according to Clallam County Sheriff’s deputies.
Smith was arrested March 9 in Puyallup after a two-day, 22-hour manhunt by the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team and numerous law enforcement agencies following a lead, according to a press release from the Sheriff’s Office.
Smith was arrested on an outstanding warrant. He was booked into Clallam County jail for investigation of one count of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree robbery and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm.
Smith was transferred from the Clallam County jail to the Washington State Corrections Center in Shelton after his court appearance June 7. He declined to make a statement, so the prosecution relied upon the statement of probable cause and police reports to construct a narrative of what he did, according to court documents.
The documents say Smith’s criminal history includes first-degree possession of stolen property in 2001, two counts of forgery in 2001, unlawful possession of a firearm in 2002, felony violation of a protection order-domestic violence in 2004, second-degree assault-domestic violence in 2004, third-degree assault in 2004, intimidating a witness in 2004, possession of a stolen vehicle in 2012 (twice), first-degree theft in 2016, and fourth-degree assault-domestic violence and harassment-domestic violence and malicious mischief-domestic violence in 2019.
Documents also say Smith has a substance abuse disorder that contributed to the offense.
The conviction is Smith’s second strike. Under Washington’s “Three Strikes You’re Out” law passed by citizens initiative in November 1993, conviction for a third violent offense carries a lifetime prison sentence.
Agencies involved in locating and arresting Smith were the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, Sequim Police Department, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Port Angeles Police Department and the U.S. Border Patrol coordinated with Tacoma FBI agents, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office and the state Department of Corrections.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at brian.gawley@soundpublishing.com.