Shooter sentenced for death of Pierce County sheriff’s deputy

Cierra McCartney said the room started spinning when she learned her husband, Pierce County sheriff’s Deputy Daniel McCartney, had been killed.

She remembers standing to try to shake off what she hoped was a nightmare.

On Friday, at the sentencing of her husband’s killer, she gave perhaps the clearest illustrations of the family’s grief — the questions she’s fielded from her three young sons the past seven months.

“Is Daddy coming back from heaven?”

“Why would any person hurt my dad when he just wanted to help and protect people?”

And when they were on an airplane: “If we go higher, can we see Dad?”

You don’t ever imagine having to answer those questions, McCartney said, or having your son come out of the bathroom wearing his Dad’s cologne, because he misses him.

The boys were ages 4, 6 and 9 when their 34-year-old father was shot Jan. 7 while responding to a home invasion in the Frederickson area. McCartney was fatally wounded while chasing two suspects on foot in the 20000 block of 45th Avenue Court East.

Frank William Pawul, 33, pleaded guilty Friday to aggravated first-degree murder for the shooting, as well as to first-degree kidnapping, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery and unlawful gun possession.

Superior Court Judge Stephanie Arend gave him life in prison without the possibility of parole — the only sentence for aggravated murder under state law, unless prosecutors seek the death penalty.

“We prefer the death penalty,” McCartney said. “However, to not put my family through any more trauma, we know this is the best option.”

Defense attorney Aaron Talney told the court that the prosecution and the defense had agreed to recommend the sentence of life without parole.

Pawul’s attorneys had been compiling arguments in recent months about why the death penalty shouldn’t be sought, and Pawul was told it would take some time to finish that report.

“He approached us with the desire to immediately plead guilty and take responsibility for his actions,” Talney said.

Pawul told the court he was sorry for everything that happened, especially that children have been left fatherless.

“I’m not a bad person or a violent person, and I never expected anything like this to happen,” he said.

Pawul said he knew he had to face the consequences of his actions, that he hoped he’d one day be forgiven and that he promised to make the best of his circumstances.

Before the hearing, the courtroom was closed to the public with the proceedings broadcast online, sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.

At one point, Sheriff Paul Pastor asked for a moment of silent reflection in the courtroom, full of McCartney’s loved ones and fellow deputies. Arend later granted the request.

“Frank Pawul shot Deputy McCartney from ambush,” Pastor said. “He did so intentionally. He appeared to have no qualms about committing this act of murder.”

Investigators said Pawul and 35-year-old Henry Carden tried to rob residents of a mobile home that was frequented by drug dealers. The residents called 911 just before 11:30 p.m., and McCartney was dispatched.

He arrived minutes later, and soon radioed: “Shots fired.”

Other deputies arrived and found him with a fatal gunshot wound. Carden was close by with multiple gunshot wounds, including a self-inflicted one that killed him.

A manhunt was begun and Pawul was found eight hours after the shooting when he tried to get through a checkpoint.

Investigators said earlier this year that ballistics test results showed the bullet that killed McCartney was fired from a handgun found about 175 feet away, along a trail of belongings they said they could link to Pawul.

Ultimately, 29-year-old Samantha Jones and 52-year-old Brenda Troyer were also arrested. Prosecutors have said Troyer — no relation to the sheriff’s spokesman — drove Pawul and Carden to the area of the mobile home, and that Jones was a passenger in the vehicle.

Both women await trial on charges of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping.

Before sentencing Pawul, Arend said he seemed to understand the error of his ways, and that she was grateful he took responsibility for his actions, which spares McCartney’s family lengthy legal proceedings.

“I see families reliving the trauma over and over again,” the judge said.

The death of a member of law enforcement, Arend said, is something different from the “far too many cases” she sees where fathers and husbands have been killed.

“These are good people that are here to protect us, and without them — well, I don’t want to imagine a world without them, quite frankly,” she said.

McCartney said in court that her family will get through, as they face a world without their hero.

“My boys will grow up to be strong men like their dad,” she said.

The youngsters were having lunch with him at their Yelm home less than 12 hours before the shooting, McCartney said. In the months since, they’ve had to pick out sports cleats without him, and haven’t been able to wrestle or camp or fish with their father.

She told reporters outside court that the family is taking things one minute at a time.

They’re grateful for the community’s support, and for the first responders who were with her husband in his last moments, she said. It means a great deal to her that he was with his partners.

She also asked that her husband not be forgotten.

“Dan was a hero, and should always be remembered as such,” she said.

This story was originally published August 3, 2018 at 1:48 PM.