PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man who was drinking up to a fifth of hard liquor a day — and sometimes more — when he shot a .44-caliber Magnum pistol from inside his house into a neighbor’s dwelling checked into a treatment facility Wednesday as part of a two-year sentence in community custody.
The gunshot that was fired by Gary Blanton Sr., 56, at about 9 p.m. Nov. 19 injured his neighbor, Howard “Jim” Poffel, who said at Blanton’s sentencing last week that he and his wife continue to live in fear in their own South I Street house more than two months later.
“We have experienced anxiety and feelings of being unsafe in our own home,” Poffel said in a victim statement read aloud at Blanton’s Jan. 18 sentencing.
Blanton said the shooting was unintentional.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Erik Rohrer sentenced Blanton to two years of community custody on a charge of third-degree assault and two counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
The maximum prison term on each charge is five years.
Blanton pleaded guilty to all three charges.
As part of his sentence, Blanton reported Wednesday to American Behavioral Health Systems’ residential treatment center in Chehalis for three to six months of what ABHS says on its website is “behavioral health intervention” that helps its clients “regain effective control of their lives.”
“I apologize for what I did,” Blanton said at his sentencing as Poffel and his wife, Keri, sat in the courtroom.
Blanton, sitting toward the front of the courtroom, repeatedly turned his head around to look at the couple.
“I could have hurt you, your grandchildren, your wife.
“I won’t touch no booze anymore.
“I will not drink again, I will not do it anymore.”
According to the Jan. 16 drug offender assessment by Olympic Personal Growth Center in Sequim, Blanton said he tried alcohol at age 5 and began drinking regularly at 20, increasing his consumption of whiskey to three or four shots at a sitting until he began drinking daily at age 31.
He said he would quit for years at a time and then start drinking again until he started drinking regularly at age 52.
Blanton said during his assessment that he mixes hard alcohol with opiates, methamphetamine and other drugs.
He was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver “quite some time ago,” according to the assessment.
“Gary reports at this point his tolerance is up to a fifth of hard alcohol a day, sometimes more,” the report said.
“Gary reports having to continue drinking in order to avoid withdrawal symptoms.”
His sentence includes not possessing or consuming alcohol, or a controlled substance without a prescription, not using or possessing a firearm, and not having any contact with Poffel or his wife, whose house is about 150 feet away from Blanton’s.
Blanton is not allowed to posses firearms due to a 2015 conviction for alcohol-related fourth-degree assault-domestic violence.
He said in court Jan. 18 that the gun that he fired into the Poffels’ residence went off while he was handling the firearm and a holster.
Rohrer was incredulous.
“To have to tell someone you shouldn’t be intoxicated when you are messing around with firearms you shouldn’t have is painful,” Rohrer said.
If Blanton starts “boozing again” after taxpayers pay for his treatment, “I’m going to send you to prison like ‘that,’” Rohrer said, snapping his fingers.
In his victim statement, Poffel questioned how Blanton would be prevented from owning firearms once he returns home from treatment.
“We don’t want to live in fear, and we also don’t want to have to consider selling our house just because we can never feel safe or at ease once he returns home,” Poffel said.
Poffel said in the statement that he was shot as he sat on the couch with his wife.
They heard a loud noise and saw what they thought was smoke before Poffel grabbed his right leg, jumped off the couch, hobbled to the kitchen, and fell to the floor.
“The pain I endured from the injury felt as if I had been stabbed by a hot soldering iron,” Poffel said.
“We were unsure if this was a drive-by shooting.
“My wife was terrified that there were going to be more shots.”
An investigation showed the bullet passed through the wall of Blanton’s house, a fence, the wall of the Poffels’ house, a couch cushion, through Poffel’s lower leg and through his upper leg.
“The CT scan showed the bullet was lodged in my upper thigh near the groin,” Poffel said.
He spent four weeks on crutches and underwent surgery while his wife, a physical therapist, lost earnings while being his caregiver.
A restitution hearing is March 2.
Blanton’s son was murdered by a vigilante, his 5-year-old grandson died of a brain injury and his daughter-in-law died of pneumonia.
Blanton receives Social Security disability payments of $575 a month.
He objected to and refused to sign the voting rights statement, which was part of the judgment and sentence, that says Blanton has lost his right to vote because of a felony conviction.
“I think that’s one reason people don’t shoot people,” Rohrer responded.
________
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@ peninsuladailynews.com.
