A 43-year-old man convicted of shooting at four Pierce County deputies in the woods of Swan Creek Park while trying to evade arrest for terrorizing his ex-girlfriend has been sentenced to more than a century in prison.
Leldon Roy Ovechka was found guilty in a jury trial last month on four counts of attempted murder and 16 other offenses, including assault, stalking, attempted residential burglary, felony harassment and violating a no contact order among others. The crimes included 16 felonies and 12 domestic-violence offenses.
Superior Court Judge Philip Sorensen sentenced him Friday to a little more than 122 years, eight months in prison.
Prosecutors said the "extremely lengthy" sentence was not clearly excessive due to the severity of Ovechka's actions, his criminal history, which includes 16 prior convictions, and the effect his crimes had on sheriff's deputies and his ex-girlfriend.
Jurors found aggravating circumstances in several of the offenses that allow the court to impose a sentence above the standard range, but, following prosecutors' recommendation, the judge handed down a low-end punishment within the standard range. The total range was so high — 1472.25 to 1755.25 months — because multiple convictions for serious violent offenses such as attempted murder must be served consecutively rather than tolling at the same time.
Those four attempted murder counts and his two second-degree assault convictions also carried firearm sentencing enhancements that must be served as flat time, amounting to 624 months. Ovechka's defense attorney did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
The four deputies who Ovechka shot at, Levi Redding, Isaac Finch, Kevin Pressel and Andrew Oney, were praised by prosecutors in a sentencing memorandum for their bravery, commending them for entering the woods to arrest Ovechka on foot and with only their vests as protection. None were injured, but prosecutors said all four described thinking they were about to die or that their partners had been killed.
"Only because the defendant was a poor shot did the deputies survive that night," deputy prosecuting attorneys Claire Vitikainen and Nicole Fensterbush wrote.
Sheriff's Department deputies moved to arrest Ovechka on Nov. 21, 2021, after he'd followed his ex in a car south of Tacoma near Midland. Ovechka was out on $60,000 bail after assaulting the woman in March, and it was the fifth time in a week that deputies were called because Ovechka was harassing her and her children, including making threats on the woman's life and breaking into her 24-year-old daughter's house.
Ovechka and the woman reportedly passed one another on McKinley Street East, and Ovechka turned his car around to follow her, speeding and swerving between traffic. Fearing that the man would shoot at her while her 12- and 7-year-old children were in the vehicle, she told them to duck down. Ovechka eventually stopped following her, and the woman drove to a Sheriff's Department precinct.
That evening, deputies got a tip that Ovechka was parked in a shopping center on 72nd Street East, according to court records. When they found his car, he fled at high speeds, and the pursuit led to the 6200 block of Pipeline Road East, where Ovechka ran into the woods at the southern end of Swan Creek Park.
The SWAT team was called out, and Tacoma police responded to assist. For several hours a negotiator made announcements telling Ovechka he was under arrest and to come out, according to court records, but there was no response.
Deputies Redding, Finch, Pressel, Oney and a police dog named Ammo began to search the woods, according to the probable cause document. About 50 yards in, gunfire erupted toward them. Redding described hearing bullets whiz by and thinking Finch had been shot because the deputy fell to the ground. He also thought Ammo was shot.
Finch and the dog weren't struck, but they retreated, fearing that Ovechka was waiting to ambush them, prosecutors wrote in charging papers.
A tactical flight officer deployed to an airplane located Ovechka, and the SWAT team was sent into the woods to find him. Just before 1 a.m., Ovechka was found unresponsive but breathing. A semi-automatic pistol and a bullet casing were found nearby.
Ovechka appeared to be having a seizure, according to court records, and when he was brought to medical personnel, the man said he'd shot himself in the head. He was taken to a hospital.
There, Ovechka recounted the night's events while a deputy sat in his hospital room, according to a trial brief. The defendant said he jumped out of his car while it was still rolling to run into the woods, and he accidentally fired the first gunshot when he stumbled and fell. Then he pulled up his black hoodie to try to hide in the woods facedown.
The next thing Ovechka reportedly remembered was a sound he guessed to be a police dog. He fired four gunshots, and he said he intended to kill himself with the final shot, but he said he must have turned his head when he pulled the trigger. He took off running again, and he said he must have been knocked out from running off of a cliff because he had no other memories until he was in an ambulance.
