- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Man sentenced to 140 years in prison for October 2017 shooting spree that killed two, wounded two others
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The man who went on an October 2017 shooting spree in which he killed his elderly father and a friend, shot and injured a California Highway Patrol officer and a woman, and set wildland fires as he tried to escape authorities was sentenced to 140 years to life in prison on Tuesday.
Judge J. David Markham handed down the sentence to 64-year-old Alan Leroy Ashmore, who reached a plea agreement with the District Attorney’s Office the day before his trial was to have begun in March, as Lake County News has reported.
The plea agreement had Ashmore plead no contest to first-degree murder for the killing of his 85-year-old father, Douglas Ashmore, as well as the killing of his friend, Richard Braden, 64, and the attempted first-degree murder of CHP Officer Steven Patrick, while also admitting to the personal discharge of a firearm that resulted in death and great bodily injury for all three of those charges.
In exchange for those pleas, the District Attorney’s Office dismissed another 18 counts that included assault with a deadly weapon, felon in possession of guns and ammunition, and hit and run. The charges were dismissed with a “Harvey waiver,” which means they can still be considered in the sentencing and victims have the opportunity to pursue restitution.
“I am happy that we were able to resolve this without a jury trial,” Ashmore’s attorney, Andrea Sullivan, told Lake County News. “I think that this is the best outcome for all parties involved because they do not have to relive this trauma of that day.”
Ashmore could eventually be considered eligible for the Elderly Parole Program, which allows for a parole suitability hearing once a prisoner is both age 60 and has served 25 years of continuous incarceration. By the time he could be considered, he would be 89 years old.
Shooting spree followed argument
Ashmore’s shooting spree began on Oct. 23, 2017. On that day, authorities said he was at his home in Clearlake Oaks when he argued with a young woman who refused to have sex with him.
That confrontation set in motion a violent response, beginning with him shooting the woman in the foot. She escaped through a window and went to a neighbor for help.
He then turned on his 85-year-old father, Douglas Ashmore, who had tried to intervene in the argument, and shot him in the face, killing him instantly.
Taking a shotgun and his father’s vehicle, Alan Ashmore began shooting at three nearby homes. One neighbor escaped injury when a pistol Ashmore was using misfired.
Ashmore killed Braden with the shotgun after finding him in a vehicle parked on the street in Anchor Village.
He confronted Officer Patrick a short time later in the area as Patrick was responding to a call about a shooting. Ashmore shot several shotgun rounds at Patrick, with the rounds hitting the officer’s vehicle and his ballistic safety vest. Patrick would continue to participate in the pursuit of Ashmore despite his injuries.
Ashmore went on to rob two gas station stores, shooting at a beer vendor while at the first store and discharging several shots while leaving the second, before heading up High Valley Road, lighting several small fires along the way.
He then drove into Brassfield Winery where he brandished a firearm at a man in the parking lot and attempted to take the man’s vehicle. The man escaped from Ashmore during a chase.
It was at a roadblock on High Valley Road that Ashmore ultimately surrendered to authorities without incident.
COVID-19 impacts on the case
In March, when Ashmore reached the plea agreement with the District Attorney’s Office, he originally was set for sentencing on April 14.
But halfway through March, the impacts of COVID-19 caused the courts to temporarily suspend proceedings at the same time as the county was put under a shelter in place order.
With courts allowed to begin reopening more services beginning in June, Ashmore’s case was rescheduled for sentencing this week.
District Attorney Susan Krones said she appeared in person in court on Tuesday morning, while Ashmore appeared via Zoom video conference from the Lake County Jail, where he has been held since his arrest.
Krones said she read five victim impact statements, one from a family member for Douglas Ashmore and the four others for Braden.
With the Lake County Probation Department in support of following the stipulated sentence that was the result of the plea agreement, Judge Markham handed down the 140-years-to-life sentence, Krones said.
Normally after such sentences to state prison are handed down, inmates are quickly transported to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for processing and to begin serving their sentences.
“San Quentin is our normal place where we transport them,” said Krones.
However, San Quentin currently is closed for transport for new inmates, she said.
That’s because of a COVID-19 outbreak at the prison. CDCR reported Wednesday that 200 staff members and 1,635 inmates have tested positive for the virus.
The state’s prison dashboard for COVID-19 shows that as of late Wednesday, 1,309 inmate cases were active, 20 were released while active, 299 were resolved and seven inmates have died.
“We’re kind of in a holding pattern,” Krones said. “He might not be transferred for a while.”
Krones added that COVID-19 “creeps into everything we do – or can’t do.”
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