A Snohomish man who was serving a 25-year prison sentence in a 2013 Ridgefield home-invasion robbery was given a second chance after the Washington Court of Appeals vacated his convictions and ordered he be re-offered a plea deal he’d previously declined.
Jarrod A. Wiebe, 34, was sentenced Friday in Clark County Superior Court to 4½ years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery and theft of a firearm.
Wiebe, who is out of custody, already had credit for serving 74 months in prison, his defense attorney, Jim Dixon, said.
Court records state Wiebe acted as a lookout on Dec. 19, 2013, while three other men forcibly entered a house on a dairy farm — while armed — bound the residents with zip ties, and stole the residents’ money and guns.
A jury found Wiebe guilty in 2014 of 16 felonies, nine of which had firearm enhancements. His convictions were largely based on state law that holds accomplices accountable for the crimes of their co-conspirators regardless of their roles in the acts.
He was originally sentenced to more than 45 years in prison and later had his sentence reduced by 20 years, The Columbian previously reported.
His new 54-month sentence was the original recommended sentence offered with the plea agreement when Wiebe declined it in favor of going to trial.
A second chance
In December, the state Court of Appeals ruled that Wiebe had ineffective assistance of counsel. It found his defense attorney at the time, Chris Ramsay, failed to inform Wiebe that his statements to law enforcement would be admissable at trial because his co-defendants had taken plea agreements.
On Friday, Wiebe told Judge Jennifer Snider that the 2013 incident has haunted him and will stay with him for the rest of his life. He said he wants to make the best of his second chance.
Dixon told the judge he uses Wiebe as an example for his other clients of someone who used his time in prison to turn his life around.
“This is someone who truly merits a second chance,” Dixon said.
On the morning of Dec. 19, 2013, Wiebe and three friends — Larry C. Kyle, Ruben Vega and Regan C. Davis — traveled on Interstate 5 together in a white Isuzu Trooper from the Snohomish area to Ridgefield. On the way, they stopped at a Walmart, where Kyle, Vega and Davis changed into military-style clothing, according to the prosecution.
The men were looking for a man named Francisco but apparently went to the wrong house, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu previously said.
They forced their way inside the single-wide mobile home of a worker on the dairy farm in the 23000 block of Northwest Hillhurst Road. The farmworker and his longtime partner testified at Wiebe’s trial that he served as a lookout while Kyle, Vega and Davis restrained the worker and threatened to call immigration if he didn’t surrender his firearms and give them $10,000, Vu previously said.
Wiebe admitted that he knew Vega and Davis were armed with pistols. Kyle also was armed with a loaded firearm, which was visible, according to the prosecution.
Ramsay had argued that Wiebe wasn’t aware the victims were being tied up, threatened and robbed.
Wiebe’s co-defendants received prison sentences between four and 14 years through their plea agreements.
