Judge Basden Gives Repeat Felon One Year for Assaulting Sheriff’s Sergeant

Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brent Basden sentenced Matthew T. Griffis to a year in jail on October 13 for spitting on a sheriff’s sergeant during an August arrest in the Sequim area.

Griffis, 22, pleaded guilty to third-degree assault on a law enforcement officer. His criminal history already included convictions for third-degree assault, harassment involving threats to kill, theft of a firearm and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, according to the judgment.

Judge Basden accepted a sentencing recommendation supported by both the prosecution and defense. Basden also ordered 12 months of community custody under Department of Corrections supervision after confinement.

Griffis will receive credit for eligible time already served solely in this case, with the amount to be calculated by the jail.

The charge stemmed from an encounter with Sergeant Brandon Stoppani, after deputies responded to a Village Lane property in the Sequim area on August 15. According to police reports filed with the court, dispatch received a call shortly before 10 a.m. reporting Griffis and another person at the property. Dispatch confirmed felony warrants for both.

Stoppani reported that Griffis ran when officers approached. The sergeant pursued him around several houses before cornering him on a deck behind a home on Village Lane. The chase lasted about one minute and 50 seconds before Griffis was taken into custody, according to Stoppani’s report.

Stoppani reported that when a patrol-car window was lowered so he could speak with Griffis, Griffis spat in his face. The sergeant said he felt saliva strike his left cheek and jaw. In reviewing photographs, he reported that the only visible saliva appeared to be on his left uniform collar.

In a supplemental report, Deputy Paris Estes described Griffis kicking the patrol vehicle’s prisoner-compartment partition and striking his head against a window. Estes reported hearing Griffis make a death threat after the spitting incident.

He also reported that, as they arrived at the jail, Griffis spoke about carrying a gun and pulling guns on deputies. Griffis’s conviction in this case was for the assault on Stoppani.