Man Gets Prison Term For Shooting Officer -- Judge Declines To Give Exceptional Sentence

Despite a passionate plea from a police officer wounded in an assault, a King County Superior Court judge said she could not use the case against the officer's assailant to send a message to others who might attack police.

Judge Kathleen Learned yesterday sentenced Pedro Angulo, 32, to seven years, eight months in prison - the top of the standard sentencing range - for shooting Officer Thomas Bacon Jan. 11 after Bacon tried to search Angulo for weapons.

Defense attorney John Muenster argued against an exceptional sentence, saying the Legislature has not designated first-degree assault against a police officer as a crime that can be an aggravating factor in a sentencing.

Bacon, who also shot Angulo in the exchange, spent several months recovering from his wounds.

``I'm comfortable to be back on the street, but there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of the shooting . . . about how it affects my family and how my family feels right now,'' Bacon told Learned yesterday.

He urged the judge to impose severe punishment ``to send a message that this sort of thing just won't be tolerated.''

Bacon said he was not in court to seek revenge but wanted help for himself, his family and all officers.

Deputy Prosecutor Kathy Goater recommended a 15-year sentence for first-degree assault, contending the attack on a uniformed officer in a plainly marked patrol car was an aggravating factor. But the judge concluded she did not have the authority to order a stiffer sentence.

``I guess I'm not surprised, but disappointed,'' Bacon said.

Bacon, 34, who was wounded in the abdomen, said the shooting brought ``without doubt the most disruptive eight months of my life.''

The bullet struck Bacon just below the right hip, bounced off a hip bone toward the front of his abdomen and then exited at the front of his lower abdomen.

In three months of recuperation, he lost income because he was on ``light duty'' and off the street, he said.

But the worst, he said, was what the incident did to his wife and two children. Before the shooting, his wife worried about the dangers he faced on the street.

``When this happened, her worst fears came true,'' he said. ``I'm back on the street now, and she has to go through this - the difference being she knows how easily and quickly this can happen.''

He said the shooting also had an impact on other officers.

Angulo, whom the judge described as having been in the United States 15 years and having no visible means of support, had been charged with first-degree attempted murder in the shooting. A jury found that Angulo did not intend to kill Bacon and settled on the lesser charge.

Angulo, who had no previous felony convictions, apologized for the shooting and promised nothing like it would happen again.

Learned also sentenced Angulo to two months for possession of cocaine. The time is to be served at the same time as the assault sentence.

Muenster argued that Angulo was walking away from Bacon when he was shot and that he was afraid of the officer. He said his client ``got the worst of it'' and suffered more than Bacon.

The attorney maintained ``there was no crime going on'' when the gunfire began and that there were no constitutional grounds for Bacon to stop Angulo.

``This is a tragedy for all concerned,'' Muenster said, adding that the last eight months have been difficult as well for Angulo's girlfriend and her children.

However, Learned said, police are not the same as other victims. ``We ask our police officers to go out and face these situations every day.''

Before the shooting, Bacon had requested a transfer to the South Seattle Precinct, contending that things were too slow for him in West Seattle.

After the shooting, his superiors praised him for maintaining his composure, putting other officers on Angulo's trail and giving a detailed description, despite his wounds.

Bacon says he likes working in Rainier Valley.

``What happened wasn't because of the area,'' he said. ``That could happen anywhere.''