A man accused of hitting another man in the head with a hammer in Chehalis on Nov. 8 is scheduled to plead guilty to an assault charge in Lewis County Superior Court on Friday.
The defendant, identified as Jason Allen La Pierre, 40, of Centralia, was charged with one count of first-degree assault, a class A felony punishable by up to life in prison, in Lewis County Superior Court on Thursday, Nov. 9. He entered a not guilty plea on Thursday, Nov. 16, but had a change of plea and sentencing hearing scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17.
La Pierre was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail at 7:35 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 8, after officers with the Chehalis Police Department responded to a report of an assault in the 70 block of Chehalis Avenue.
The victim reported he had been doing work on a camper for La Pierre and another subject in exchange for a place to stay, but after he returned from a trip to the store, he found all of his personal property was missing. The victim said he confronted La Pierre and the other subject about his missing belongings, at which point La Pierre allegedly “told him to leave and (said) that if he did not, he was going to hit him with a hammer,” according to court documents. The victim reportedly “continued to demand his property back,” and La Pierre allegedly “grabbed a hammer with a blue handle and hit him on the head with it.”
A responding officer reportedly observed an injury over the victim’s left eye “that was causing blood to run down his face,” according to court documents.
Officers contacted La Pierre and the other subject inside a trailer on the Chehalis Avenue property and detained La Pierre, but during the arrest, La Pierre allegedly “thrust his hand into his pocket, causing (the officer) to believe he was reaching for a weapon,” according to court documents. The item in La Pierre’s pocket was revealed to be “a baggie of suspected methamphetamine.”
When questioned, La Pierre reportedly said the victim brought the meth to the trailer and later changed his story to say “he found the methamphetamine on the ground.” Regarding the assault, La Pierre reportedly “said that he did not know what happened to (the victim)” and later said “(the victim) hit himself with the hammer.”
During his preliminary hearing in Lewis County Superior Court on Nov. 9, La Pierre told the court he was acting in defense of the other subject, who he identified as his cousin.
“He assaulted my cousin and I tried to stop him from assaulting my cousin,” La Pierre said to Judge Joely Yeager on Nov. 9. “I don’t know why I’m the one that was arrested when he was the one who assaulted my cousin.”
While Deputy Prosecutor Scott Jackson asked Yeager to set La Pierre’s bail at $250,000 due to the allegations, which Jackson called “a very serious offense with a weapon,” and La Pierre’s criminal history, Yeager opted to set bail at $100,000 due to La Pierre’s financial status.
He was still in custody at the Lewis County Jail as of Thursday, Nov. 16.
