PORT ANGELES — A state appeals court has upheld four felony assault convictions against a Port Angeles man who was found guilty of ramming his car into another car in April 2011, injuring the two children and two adults in the other car.
The state Court of Appeals Division II ruled last week that the January 2012 jury conviction of Michael Joseph Moyle, 31, should be upheld.
The court did not accept the defense’s appeal that there was insufficient evidence to prove Moyle’s intent based on a diminished-mental-capacity defense.
The jury in 2012 did not accept Moyle’s diminished-capacity defense and convicted him of two counts each of second-degree assault of a child and second-degree assault, and one count of hit-and-run causing injury.
Moyle was sentenced to 10 years in prison and is listed on the roster of the Airway Heights Corrections Center.
Police account
The police gave this account of the hit-and-run:
Moyle was in his black Mustang in the parking lot of the Port Angeles Albertsons at 114 E. Lauridsen Blvd. on April 13, 2011, when he saw Stewart Baker leaving the parking lot in his car.
Moyle stopped and apparently reversed his Mustang in an attempt to ram Baker but failed.
Moyle then followed Baker out of the parking lot south on South Laurel Street, caught up with him at the intersection of Laurel Street and East Viewcrest Avenue, and struck Baker’s car with his Mustang at high speed.
Baker’s car was pushed about 150 feet into a telephone pole.
Baker and his three passengers were injured, with one child suffering a leg fracture and head injury, and the other suffering multiple contusions and a broken arm.
Moyle abandoned his Mustang about a block away. He left the scene without identifying himself to Baker or anyone else who saw the collision, police said, and later was arrested at another friend’s house three days later.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.