By Heather Spaulding
Editor
Editors Note: This article contains graphic images and may be upsetting
Justin Dion Enoch, 47, of Friday Harbor, has been sentenced to five years in prison for attacking a woman with a hatchet.
Enoch was sentenced to 60 months of confinement by San Juan County Superior Court Judge Kathryn Loring on March 28. He pleaded guilty to one count of assault in the third degree, one count of burglary, one account of violating a protection order and one count of assault in the fourth degree. The last charge, assault in the fourth degree stemmed from a previous attack against the same woman Nov. 19. According to Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Teresa Barnett, the November charge was being heard in District Court, and Barnett was able to move it into Superior Court and include it as part of a plea deal.
According to the Probable Cause Affidavit, on Jan 20, at 10:25 p.m., deputies on San Juan Island were dispatched to a call regarding a 42-year-old woman who had been attacked by a man with a hatchet on Warbass. The woman had sustained wounds to her head and leg. The woman was transferred to Peace Health Medical Center for her injuries.
The deputies located the hatchet near where the attack took place. Enoch was arrested a short time later. Deputies found a small bottle of Fireball whiskey in one of his pockets. A pipe used to smoke methamphetamines was also discovered.
Enoch and the woman were in a known relationship, according to the Probable Cause, and she had a protection order against him. On the evening of Jan. 20, he trespassed onto her boat, picked up a hatchet and began hitting her on the head. He struck her again on the back of the leg as she fled the boat.
Enoch pled guilty to all four counts, and has been sentenced to 60 months, or five years, in confinement, and ordered to pay a minimum of $3,127 restitution fees. He is also ordered not to have any contact with the victim. The no-contact order is a lifetime order, according to Barnett, which they were able to obtain due to the severity of the crime. Once released from prison, Enoch will be under 18-month probation where he must refrain from drinking alcohol or consuming controlled substances except those pursuant to lawfully issued “This is a good outcome, in part because we were able to resolve it so quickly,” Barnett said.
