Man gets 15 years for standoff

A 49-year-old Hayden man will serve at least 10 years in prison for shooting at Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies during a 10-hour standoff one year ago.

Daniel M. Deisz said officers surprised him when they came through his garage and opened the door to his home. And that, his attorney said in court Thursday, is why Deisz fired off a shot that hit – but didn’t injure – Deputy Dennis Stinebaugh.

First District Judge John P. Luster, who handed down the sentence Thursday, questioned the logic of Deisz’s argument that the entry by officers was illegal and somehow justified his behavior.

“I find that to be a rather bizarre notion, Mr. Deisz,” Luster said.

Deputies went to the man’s home in Hayden on July 19, 2005, at the request of his estranged wife, who had a court order and wanted to get her computer and file cabinet.

They repeatedly knocked on the door and called and left phone messages, according to court records, but Deisz did not answer.

Officers went through a side door to the garage and used a key that the wife provided to unlock the door into the house.

Deputy Jeremy Young pushed open the door, but it swung back and closed. Young pushed the door open again and Stinebaugh, who propped the door with his foot, said he saw a handgun come around the corner, pointed toward him.

Deisz fired at point-blank range, and the bullet grazed Stinebaugh’s bulletproof vest. Deisz was also charged with pointing the gun at Sgt. Barry Alleman.

Deputy Prosecutor Marty Raap said Deisz showed an “appalling lack of remorse.”

“Clearly he just tried to plain murder a police officer,” Raap said, adding that it was only the “grace of God” and the safety vest that prevented that from happening.

Raap said Deisz was also lucky he was alive and sitting in court Thursday. “They had every right to shoot him dead,” he said.

Luster said it was fortunate that the only damage was to Stinebaugh’s vest, shirt and gun holster, which the bullet tore through.

Defense attorney Douglas Phelps asked for probation, but Luster said he believed Deisz posed a substantial risk to society.

“I have an individual that’s not the least bit hesitant to open fire on law enforcement officers,” the judge said.

He also denied a motion by Deisz to change his guilty plea to an Alford plea – not an admission of guilt but a recognition by the defendant that there’s likely enough evidence for a conviction.

Phelps said if Deisz intended to kill a cop, he would have fired more than once. He said his client suffered from diminished capacity that day because he’d been drinking malt liquor.

Deisz, who wore a red jumpsuit and bulletproof vest to the sentencing, did not speak. Stinebaugh and other officers involved in the standoff were in the courtroom.