Posted in Felonies on November 11, 2014
Brent W. Luyster, 34, pleaded guilty in Clark County Superior Court to rioting with a weapon. The Vancouver man was originally accused of a hate crime that was committed at Vancouver’s QuarterDeck bar in March 2013. Luyster accepted a plea deal and in exchange for his guilty plea prosecutors dismissed charges of second-degree assault, harassment and racially motivated malicious harassment. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail.
The senior deputy prosecutor agreed to the reduced charges because some witnesses of the incident had changed their stories. Luyster’s Vancouver defense attorney said that witnesses were recanting but there was enough exposure that Luyster did not want to risk going to trial.
Luyster was suspected of pointing a pistol at patrons of the tavern and threatening them because of their race. Court documents indicate that some of the targets were black. Robert Luyster, Brent Luyster’s brother, and Donald H. McElfish, a friend, were also charged for participating in the incident, but the charges were eventually dismissed. The three allegedly fled the scene when police arrived at the tavern.
Court records indicate that the Luysters are involved with skinhead groups.
Source: The Columbian, “Vancouver man gets 90 days in gun incident,” Paris Achen, October 23, 2014.
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