Sunriver man gets 20 years for trying to shoot officers

(Update: Adding details; jury trial, more on confrontation)

A judge on Friday sentenced a 20-year-old Sunriver man to 20 years in prison for attempted aggravated murder and other charges stemming from a November 2017 police chase from Bend to Madras, where he crashed a stolen minivan and was shot and wounded by officers after pulling and firing a gun, prosecutors said.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Judge Annette Hillman imposed the sentence on Christopher Sweeney after a four-day jury trial last month that ended in a conviction, Chief Deputy District Attorney Brentley Foster said. The jury deliberated just over an hour and convicted Sweeney on all counts, she added.

Foster said Sweeney, then 18, walked away from the J-Bar-J Boys Ranch in Bend without authorization on Nov. 2, 2017 and burglarized his grandparents’ Sunriver home while on the run, stealing more than $30,000 in property and two vehicles.

The vehicles were spoted on Highway 97 in Bend a short time later. One driver, Corey Gallagher, 19, of Prineville, pulled over a 2007 Toyota Highlander and was convicted in May of last year of unlawful use of a motor vehicle, Foster said.

But Sweeney refused to stop the 2004 Chevy Venture minivan and engaged in a high-speed chase from Bend to Redmond and Terrebonne, hitting several police spike strips before crashing in Madras around 11 p.m. near an intersection known as the “South Y.”

Oregon State Police Sgt. John Russo and Jefferson County Sheriff”s Deputy Joseph Aldred were first on the scene, evidence at the trial showed.

Aldred approached around the front of the crashed minivan and saw Sweeney crouched down near the rear driver’s side tire, facing the back of the van, where Russo was trying to pin in the minivan so it couldn’t leave, Foster said.

Aldred ordered Sweeney to show his hands, but he instead swung around to face him, at which time the deputy saw Sweeney pointing a gun at him, the prosecutor said. Both officers then fired at Sweeney, who was taken to the hospital for treatment of serious injuries. He’s been jailed since his release from the hospital two weeks later.

“Sweeney claimed he never fired, but there was a fired cartridge still stuck in the chamber, and a damaged cartridge on the driver’s seat of the vehicle,” Foster said.

She said Sweeney claimed he was crouched down at the back of the van in the position Aldred saw him in because “just as he was starting to run away, his whole body cramped up.”

According to the prosecutor, Sweeney testified he had tucked the gun into his pants waistband and it fell out when he cramped up and hunched over, so when he stood to face Aldred, he was holding the gun.

District Attorney Steven Leriche had ruled after the shooting that the officers were justified in their actions, noting Sweeney had held his pistol with both hands and apparently fired at Aldred. But he said the gun, recovered at the scene, had a damaged bullet casing still in the chamber, indicating it may have misfired. Neither Aldred nor Russo were injured.

Foster said in a news release she had asked for the 20-year term (the mandatory minimum for each count of attempted aggravated murder), noting that “Sweeney laughed about his conduct on recorded jail calls and never expressed remorse for his crimes.”

The prosecutor said if not for the heroism of Russo, Aldred and OSP Senior Trooper Bob Olson, “Sweeney likely would have died of his injuries at the scene.” She called the officers’ professionalism “phenomenal.”

Foster said Sweeney’s attorney, Matthew Murphy, focused on Sweeney’s youth and immaturity and asked the judge to impose the sentences concurrently, which would have meant a 10-year sentence on the most serious charges.

After hearing the final arguments and a victim impact statement from Aldred, as well as statements of support from Sweeney’s family and a mentor at Rimrock Trails Treatment Services, Hillman imposed the 20-year term prosecutors sought.

Sweeney also received concurrent sentences of five years each on two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, a 60-day concurrent jail term for attempting to elude a peace officer and a nearly one-year concurrent jail sentence for reckless driving.

Foster also noted Sweeney still faces other charges in Deschutes County of first-degree burglary and theft and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

“The (Central Oregon) Major Incident Team, specifically Bend Police Department, Redmond Police Department, and the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, provided enormous support and assistance throughout the investigation and prosecution of this case,” Foster wrote.