Pierce County sheriff’s sergeant stabbed man in ’18. Here’s why he isn’t facing jail time
A former Pierce County sheriff’s sergeant who was arrested in 2018 won’t be facing further jail time after he was sentenced Thursday for felony harassment in a case that dragged on for years.
Robert Glen Carpenter, 52, received credit for 24 days he served in jail after he was arrested in 2018 and was subsequently charged with first-degree assault for stabbing a man in the hands in Tacoma. He pleaded guilty Monday to felony harassment as part of a plea agreement.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Timothy Ashcraft did not order Carpenter to serve any more time in a sentence that was below the standard range of one to three months in prison. The defendant does not have any criminal history, according to court records.
The charges stemmed from an incident in the early hours of Oct. 5, 2018 outside a marijuana dispensary on Pacific Avenue.
Carpenter went there with two other men he met at a bar earlier in the night. Charging documents alleged that Carpenter showed his gun to one of the men after he gave them edible marijuana, and the man said he wanted marijuana he could smoke because edibles didn’t get him high. The man reportedly felt threatened by the gun, shouldered Carpenter and took the weapon. The man ran to a vehicle, and Carpenter followed, stabbing him through an open passenger-side window.
The resulting cuts to the victim’s hands required 15 stitches, records say.
Carpenter was arrested the morning of the incident and was released the next day. After he was charged two months later, he was fired from his position as a sheriff’s sergeant. Carpenter worked for the Sheriff’s Department for 25 years.
The defendant and his attorney, Bryan Hershman, have maintained that Carpenter was not the aggressor but was the victim of a robbery.
In a phone call with The News Tribune this week, Hershman said he had proof that the victim in this case pointed Carpenter’s gun at him twice after taking the weapon. According to court filings, Hershman planned to pursue a self-defense argument had the case gone to trial.
In federal lawsuits against Pierce County and the City of Tacoma over an “incomplete and skewed” investigation into the incident, Carpenter has claimed that the man who took his gun said he was going to shoot him. Carpenter is seeking $18 million in damages, and litigation is ongoing.
