CASPER — A 30-year-old former Casper police officer pleaded not guilty Wednesday to the seven charges related to a 17-hour armed standoff Aug. 22-23 in which he fired shots through a window at Natrona County Sheriff’s Office deputies.
Michael Hughes appeared in Natrona County District Court before Judge Catherine Wilking with his attorney Trevor Schenk. He wore a tan suit with brown shoes and a bushy walrus-style moustache.
Wilking read him the charges and potential penalties for five counts of aggravated assault and battery stemming from threats to responding officers, property destruction worth more than $1,000, and a reckless endangering misdemeanor for shooting into the apartment above him.
“As to those charges, how do you plead?” The judge asked.
“Not guilty, your honor,” Hughes said.
Schenk asked that Hughes’ $20,000 bond be continued. It has been reduced from an initial $500,000 bond set by a Casper Circuit Court judge and allowed Hughes to attend treatment at an addiction center, according to court records.
Hughes told the judge prior to his plea that he was on a medication.
Hughes lost his job as a police officer following the incident. His attorney Wednesday said Hughes would file a new address with the court for his client due to new employment.
Court records showed that the August standoff followed Hughes drinking whiskey and beer the evening of Aug. 22 after a phone conversation with his estranged wife where he allegedlymade threats to kill himself.
The Standoff
Court documents show that Hughes’ wife had filed for divorce and his attorney was served with papers Aug. 16.
The arrest affidavit states Hughes’ wife informed him she was calling dispatch after he made comments about self-harm. Hughes allegedly responded he would “shoot a motherf***er through the door.”
Deputies were dispatched to his Quail Run Apartments home, and from about 11:30 p.m. Aug. 22 and until about 4:15 p.m. Aug. 23, a standoff ensued that included members of the Natrona County Special Response Team and negotiators.
At the complex, deputies found Hughes’ girlfriend in the parking lot who told them he had been bringing guns into the kitchen and ordered her to leave. When she refused, she said Hughes pointed a handgun to the ceiling and fired off a round. She also told deputies he was threatening to shoot anyone who entered.
During the standoff, an arrest affidavit states that Hughes made repeated threats to “to kill law enforcement officers and attempted to solicit officers to enter his apartment so he could kill them.”
He shot a pistol through a window that tactical officers were stationed beside. He also snatched a drone out of the air, broke it and threw it back out the window.
Hughes allegedly told officers, “Bring it on,” and invited them to, “Come on in, let’s do this. You know how it’s going to end.”
During the standoff, Hughes went through mood swings and went from making suicidal “ideations and plans” to apologizing to his friends and colleagues for his conduct, the affidavit states.
Bullet Holes And A Will
A search of the apartment yielded three handguns, two 9 mm and one 10 mm. Investigators found three spent shell casings, a handwritten will, two bullet holes in the ceiling and one in the window where he shot at Special Response Team members.
Some residents of the apartment complex were evacuated during the standoff.
Each aggravated assault and battery charge as well as the property destruction worth more than $1,000 charge carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and an up to $10,000 fine or both. The reckless endangering charge carries a potential punishment of up to one year in jail.
Contact Dale Killingbeck at dale@cowboystatedaily.com
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
