Army won’t deploy stabbing suspects

OLYMPIA – The Army has decided two Rangers suspected of involvement in a stabbing outside an Olympia bar last March won’t deploy overseas.

The military initially said Alfred Joseph Sanchez and John Melville could deploy with their unit. But following angry comments from the victim and his mother, an Army Ranger spokeswoman told the Olympian newspaper that the men will remain in the Fort Lewis area.

The stabbing victim, Brad Merten, of Olympia, and his mother, Kaye Mayo, both expressed anger last week after hearing that the Rangers’ sergeant had requested a trial continuance so the two soldiers could deploy with their unit. A Thurston County Superior Court judge granted the request.

The accused soldiers, Sanchez, 20, and Melville, 22, are members of the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. Sanchez is charged with first-degree assault while armed with a deadly weapon and first-degree burglary in connection with the stabbing of Merten outside Charlie’s Bar & Grill in the early morning of March 28. Melville is charged with first-degree burglary.

Thurston County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Jon Tunheim has said he did not oppose the continuance request because other witnesses also will be unavailable in the coming months because of deployment.

Merten suffered a punctured lung, a broken rib and a damaged liver, and a chest tube had to be inserted, court papers state. Mayo said her son was in the hospital for five days.