A Battle Ground man was found guilty Tuesday of assault stemming from a July 2014 incident in which he attacked a man with a gun after they began fighting about the volume of music being played on a Columbia River beach.
Andrew J. Mortensen, 31, was convicted of two counts of second-degree assault, one of which involved the use of a firearm. He was acquitted of four other counts: second-degree assault, two counts of harassment-death threats, and tampering with a witness. One other count, harassment-death threats, was dismissed during his trial in Clark County Superior Court.
The jury heard five days of testimony and deliberated for about 2½ hours before reaching its verdict.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Vancouver police were called shortly before 1 a.m. July 6, 2014, on a report of an argument between groups on different sides of the Vancouver Lake flushing channel.
During the verbal exchange, Mortensen threatened to “come across the river with a gun and shoot” the three victims, Scott Burkett, Joshua McDonald and Bianca Lujan, Vancouver police Officer Ron Wier wrote in the affidavit.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu said during the trial that Mortensen had been camping with friends and family on the beach when the incident occurred. They apparently became insulted when the group across the waterway began yelling for them to turn down their music. Mortensen and a friend, Michael Nottingham, then boarded a boat and took it across to the opposite beach, where they began to fight Burkett and McDonald, Vu said.
Court records show that Mortensen attempted to strike Burkett, but missed. Burkett responded by pushing Mortensen and placing him in a chokehold. As they struggled, Mortensen pulled a pistol from his waistband and struck Burkett in the face with the butt of the gun, breaking his nose.
“He then pointed the gun at (Burkett), threatening to shoot and kill him while racking the slide to the gun,” Wier wrote in the affidavit. Mortensen was also accused of pointing the gun in McDonald’s face and threatening to kill him and Lujan when she started to call 911. The jury found he was only guilty of assaulting Burkett.
Nottingham was convicted in February of fourth-degree assault in District Court for attacking McDonald, according to court documents.
During the trial, Vu argued that Mortensen was an intoxicated “hothead” who took matters into his own hands after both groups began yelling.
“Common citizens are not above the law. What we have here is a man who thought he was above the law,” Vu said. “Words do not justify you physically assaulting a person.”
Mortensen’s defense attorney, Brian Walker, argued that the other group of people were the instigators and that McDonald was the main aggressor. He said Mortensen and Nottingham were just defending themselves. Mortensen reportedly carried the gun for protection.
The men said they had gone to the other side of the waterway because that’s where the parking lot is. Nottingham testified that he had plans to pick up his daughter. A witness for the state, Derek Townsend, testified that he had taken Nottingham’s daughter home from the beach earlier that day. He said he wasn’t aware of any plan for Nottingham to pick her up later that night.
Mortensen, who’s been out on bail since July 2014, was taken into custody following the verdict. He is set to be sentenced Dec. 4.
Vu said he’s likely facing three to four years in prison, primarily because of the firearm enhancement.
