Man shot by police in Arroyo Park in 2018 declared not guilty by reason of insanity
The California man Whatcom County law enforcement shot and wounded in Arroyo Park after he threatened people with a machete and fired a crossbow at officers in December 2018 has been acquitted by reason of insanity.
Micah James Godfrey, 49, was declared not guilty by reason of insanity of three counts of first-degree assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon March 22 in Whatcom County Superior Court.
At the hearing, Whatcom County Superior Court Judge David Freeman found that Godfrey’s motion to acquit by reason of insanity was made as a knowing and voluntary request. Freeman ruled that the five criminal counts Godfrey was charged with were committed, but Freeman acquitted Godfrey because he was insane at the time he committed the crimes.
Freeman also found Godfrey presents a substantial danger to other people and that he jeopardizes public safety. Because of this, Freeman placed Godfrey in the custody of Western State Hospital, Washington’s largest state psychiatric facility in Lakewood.
Godfrey will be committed to Western State Hospital, where he will receive mental health treatment, for up to the remainder of his life.
“I do not want this to be viewed as a lack of accountability. Clearly Mr. Godfrey is taking accountability for his actions here, including knowing the potential that he could be hospitalized for the remainder of his life. He clearly understands the consequences of this and asking for this acquittal by reason of insanity,” Freeman said.
Godfrey had previously been declared incompetent to stand trial at least three times over the course of his case and had served at least a year in a state psychiatric hospital undergoing competency restoration treatment, court records show.
Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Erik Sigmar said at the hearing that Godfrey has been held in Whatcom County Jail for too long, and that the prosecutor’s office hopes Godfrey gets the help he needs so that he can move forward in his life.
Godfrey’s public defense attorney, Mamie Lackie, said at the hearing that Godfrey had worked diligently and understood all of his choices and options. Lackie said Godfrey had made it clear that he believed his actions in December 2018 were because he was exhibiting symptoms of a major mental illness and was not medicated at the time, causing delusions and auditory and visual hallucinations.
In a forensic psychological exam dated Feb. 16 determining Godfrey’s sanity, the report shows Godfrey has unspecified schizophrenia spectrum or another psychotic disorder. At the time of the December 2018 incident, Godfrey was “experiencing symptoms of a severe and persistent mental illness, namely psychosis,” as well as delusions with paranoid and persecutory themes, court records show.
Godfrey told the evaluator he had not sought psychiatric treatment since moving to Washington due to the difficulties of establishing care with mental health providers in the state and had not been taking medication for at least four months prior to the incident. Records from the hospital emergency department after Godfrey was shot show that a urine toxicology report done was negative for all tested substances and that Godfrey’s symptoms were not “attributable to the effects of voluntary intoxication,” the court records state.
Lackie said Godfrey acknowledged that had he been medicated, things may have been different that day.
“He is hopeful over time that there might be the opportunity for conditional release. He wants to be a productive member of society and take his medication and be stable. He does not want another situation like this to happen ever again,” Lackie said. “I’m very hopeful he will get the help he needs.”
The Arroyo Park incident
On Dec. 23, 2018, law enforcement responded to the Arroyo Park area near the Interurban Trail, just east of where the trail crosses Old Samish Way near Chuckanut Drive after 911 calls about a man chasing at least one person with a machete.
Officers with the Bellingham Police Department and a canine handler with the sheriff’s office responded to the call and began searching for the man, later identified as Godfrey, court records show.
Godfrey shot a crossbow at the responding officers as they approached him in his camp in a canyon in the woods of Arroyo Park, court records state.
One Bellingham police officer and the sheriff’s canine deputy shot Godfrey, court records state. A total of four rounds were fired, and Godfrey was hit in the hip and hand, records state.
Godfrey received first aid on scene and was taken to St. Joseph’s hospital where he was treated and released into custody.
Whatcom County Prosecutor Eric Richey determined in March 2019 that all officers involved used “both objective and subjective good faith” in their decisions to fire their service weapons, The Bellingham Herald previously reported. Richey determined those involved met requirements approved by voters under Initiative 940, which redefined laws regarding police who use deadly force in the line of duty.
Administrative reviews done by both the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office and the Bellingham Police Department also determined the deputies and officers acted within departmental policies.
