MAPLE FALLS, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A Maple Falls man found guilty in the attempted murder of two Whatcom County sheriff’s deputies has been sentenced.
Court documents state 63-year-old Joel Young was sentenced on Tuesday, Oct. 22, to 40 years in prison followed by three years of community custody.
In 2022, Whatcom County Sheriff’s deputies Jason Thompson and Ryan Rathbun were responding to a report of Young shooting a gun into the air near a home in Maple Falls. The deputies arrived to find Young upset about his neighbor’s outdoor fire, and then proceeded to shoot the officers non-fatally in the face.
Young was convicted by a jury in September following an eight-day trial.
His attorneys requested a new trial because what they say is a key piece of video evidence could not be played during jury deliberations. That request was denied.
Young also has a lifetime no-contact order with the former deputies Thompson and Rathbun.
