HOWELL, Mich. (AP) — A man who kept a swath of
southeastern Michigan on edge for weeks by shooting at two-dozen
vehicles along a busy highway corridor was sentenced Monday to 18 to 40
years in prison on a combination of terrorism and weapons convictions.
Raulie
Casteel learned his fate in Livingston County Circuit Court, where a
jury in January found him guilty of terrorism, rejecting his claim that
the shootings were the impulsive result of uncontrolled delusions and
paranoia.
Casteel, 44, already is serving a six-plus-year sentence
that stemmed from a related case in neighboring Oakland County. The
judge sentenced him to a minimum of 16 years on the terrorism charge and
two additional years on felony firearms charges. The sentence is
concurrent with the Oakland County case, and he must serve at least 18
years.
Defense lawyer Doug Mullkoff sought a lighter sentence,
saying his client was "certainly a troubled individual" but not a
terrorist.
"Is Raulie Casteel actually a terrorist — is this
really what the Legislature had in mind when it passed the Michigan
anti-terrorism act in wake of attacks in 2001?" asked Mullkoff before
the sentencing. "I think they were thinking of Osama bin Laden, Timothy
McVeigh. Did Raulie Casteel fit into that category? I don’t think so.
The post-9/11 law passed by Legislature did not contemplate someone who
is mentally ill like Mr. Casteel."
Before handing down his
sentence, Judge David Reader said he had a mentally ill mother who he
cared for up until her death and is "very empathetic and sympathetic" to
the condition. Still, he added, terrorism isn’t necessarily contingent
upon the mental state of the perpetrator.
"The daily routines and
lives of tens of thousands were affected before any motivation was
revealed," he said, adding "that’s indeed terror in the opinion of this
court."
During the Livingston County trial, Casteel testified that
he shot at the other motorists on Interstate 96 and nearby roads
between Lansing and Detroit over a three-day period in October 2012.
Testifying in his own defense, Casteel said he was consumed with anxiety
while in traffic, most likely from undiagnosed delusions. He said he
believed drivers were part of a government conspiracy against him.
Casteel said he never thought about the consequences of the shootings, only that he wanted "to send
a message to back off."
Among
the victims who attended the sentencing was Jennifer Kupiec, who spoke
at a news conference afterward. Kupiec, now 25, said she encountered
Casteel on the freeway on Oct. 18, 2012, while driving from Brighton to
East Lansing to meet a friend for lunch and buy a sweatshirt from
Michigan State University, her alma mater.
"Someone I didn’t know
rolled down their window and aimed a 9-millimeter gun at me," said
Kupiec, who now lives in Chicago. "He tried to kill me for no reason and
came with milliseconds of getting his wish."
Kupiec said she
pulled over and saw the bullet hole in her car door and believes Casteel
was aiming at her rib cage. She said he likely would have succeeded had
she not been speeding — which drew some laughs from the law enforcement
officials standing around her.
Michigan Attorney General Bill
Schuette said it was a miracle nobody was hurt or killed, but argued
that doesn’t lessen his belief that the terrorism charge and conviction
"squarely" aligned with the state law.
"For three days people were
intimidated — afraid to take their normal route to work … or school,"
he said. "They were afraid they might get shot."
The terrorism
charge brought by the state attorney general’s office covered all the
shootings in Livingston, Shiawassee, Ingham and Oakland counties.
Casteel had faced 60 charges, including attempted murder, in Oakland
County for shootings in Commerce Township and Wixom before pleading no
contest but mentally ill to assault and firearms charges last year.
Defense
attorney Mullkoff has said his client was diagnosed with delusional
disorder, a condition associated with maintaining false, persistent
beliefs despite evidence to the contrary.
Casteel is a St. Johns,
Mich., native who lived in Taylorsville, Ky., before returning to
Michigan in 2012 to live with his wife’s family.
Police in
Kentucky said they had no contact with him until June 2012 when he
became agitated and complained about aircraft flying too low over his
house. No one else had reported low-flying planes.
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