Woman who shot man at Spokane Valley car wash sentenced to 5 years in prison

Garrett Cabeza, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
·1 min read
1

Dec. 10—A judge last week sentenced a 32-year-old woman to five years in prison for shooting a man in the stomach last year in a Spokane Valley car wash parking lot.

Sabrina M. Heaton pleaded guilty in October to first-degree assault in exchange for prosecutors dropping the attempted first-degree murder charge she faced, Spokane County deputy prosecutor Tom Treppiedi said at the time.

Robby Heaton, Sabrina Heaton's ex-husband, reported his yellow Volkswagen Beetle and another car stolen May 6, 2021, according to court documents. He believed Sabrina Heaton took the Beetle.

A few months later on Aug. 26, Joseph Carson, who was 45 at the time, told police he was washing the Beetle he borrowed from Sabrina Heaton in the parking lot of Clean-A-Auto.

Sabrina Heaton arrived in a black VW Beetle demanding the car, Carson said in documents. Carson obliged and said he would grab his belongings from the car and take his keys off the key ring.

But Heaton threatened to shoot Carson, saying she needed the car immediately, according to court documents.

Heaton held the gun at the back of Carson's neck and told him she was going to kill him before Carson tried to overpower her, according to Carson's girlfriend.

Heaton shot Carson during the struggle and fled, court records said. She was later arrested.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Tony Hazel handed down the "exceptional sentence" Dec. 2. The sentence was deemed exceptional because the five-year prison term was below the roughly 8-to-10 year standard sentencing range.

Heaton will serve three years of community custody, also called probation, when she is released from prison.