Spokane man sentenced to 22 years in prison for home invasion, assaults

A Spokane man was sentenced to 22 years in prison after he and a woman forced their way into a Northwest Spokane home, threatened its residents with a gun and pistol-whipped one of them, according to a Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office news release.

On Friday, Dustin D. Walter, 42, was sentenced to 270 months in prison after a jury last month convicted him of three counts of second-degree assault, one count of first-degree burglary and one count of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

The release said Walter and a woman went to a house in December 2024 to confront a man who the woman accused of stealing her drugs, according to court documents and trial testimony. During the home invasion, they shoved one person into a bathroom and threatened other residents with a handgun.

Residents heard a gunshot from the bathroom. When police arrived, the victim in the bathroom had head injuries, which he said were the result of Walter pistol-whipping him. Police found a bullet hole in the victim’s hooded-sweatshirt.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Julie McKay noted the violent nature of the incident and Walter’s significant criminal history, which includes 11 felony convictions, when sentencing Walter. Four firearm enhancements accounted for the majority of the sentence, according to the release.

In August, Walter’s co-defendant, Kayela S. Nielsen, 33, pleaded guilty to her involvement in the incident. She was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for second-degree assault, first-degree burglary and unlawful imprisonment.