Man sentenced to 20 years for drive-by shooting, witness tampering, drug and assault charges

A judge sentenced a man to 20 years in prison on Monday after he pleaded guilty to a variety of domestic violence, weapons and drug charges stemming from three separate incidents between May and July this year.

Daniel J. Skjold, 31, pleaded guilty to witness tampering, violation of a no -contact order, first-degree assault, drive-by shooting, unlawful firearm possession and controlled substance with intent to deliver.

“This wasn’t an easy decision for my client to make,” Skjold’s attorney Lindsay Gray told the courtroom.

Skjold accepted his plea deal after facing pressure from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms regarding potential unrelated charges, she said. Several other charges were dismissed as a result of the agreement.

Skjold’s charges stemmed from an arrest in early May when he was discovered in a stolen recreational vehicle full of meth, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl, police said. Two guns, one of which was stolen, were also in the RV.

After bonding out, Skjold was arrested again in July following an argument with his girlfriend at a home near Newman Lake. After she left her residence in her vehicle, Skjold followed her in his own vehicle and shot at her car on East Lincoln Drive in Newman Lake as she tried to make a U-turn, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Days after his arrest, Skjold broke a no-contact order when he called the victim of the drive-by over the phone from jail and attempted to persuade her to lie to authorities in an effort to get himself out of jail.

A half -dozen members of Skjold’s family sat in the court pews on Monday morning and quietly wept during Skjold’s plea and sentencing.

Skjold did not make a statement to the court. He occasionally smiled back at his family members.

“I’m feeling a lot of pain for my son,” Duane Skjold, his father, told the courtroom. “I’ll probably never see him again.”

Duane Skjold, who spent the morning in the courtroom with his head hung low, asked that Spokane County Superior Court Judge Julie M. McKay grant a lighter sentence to his son.

“I haven’t been a very good role model for him,” the father said. “I’ve spent half my life in prison.”

McKay did not mince words with the younger Skjold, describing his crimes as “so incredibly egregious I don’t even know what to say.”

“You take a gun and you fire at someone you purport to love,” the judge said. “I don’t even know what that thought process is.”

Despite the judge’s exasperation, McKay sentenced Skjold on the low end of the sentencing range. Skjold, who had 21 other previous felony convictions prior to his arrest in May, was looking at potential life in prison.

In addition to his 20 years, he also will serve three years in community custody.