Joint Base Lewis McChord soldier had "nothing left to lose" before acid attack on judge

When you read the headline, it doesn't come close enough to telling the rest of the story.

Former soldier charged in acid attack on Thurston County judge
The Olympian
Jeremy Pawloski
Staff Writer
Published: July 26, 2013

Prosecutors have charged a former soldier at Joint Base Lewis-McChord with throwing sulfuric acid at Thurston County District Judge Michael “Brett” Buckley’s face during a Sept. 10 attack at the judge’s Olympia home.

Michael Edward Martin, 33, already is in custody at a federal detention center, awaiting sentencing after he pleaded guilty to threatening to kill a Judge Advocate General military prosecutor in a separate case. On Friday, Thurston County prosecutors charged Martin with first-degree assault and first-degree malicious mischief in connection with the attack on Judge Buckley.

The former soldier apparently blamed the judge’s prior decision to issue a restraining order against him for ending his military career.

“He felt like his life was falling apart, and he was looking for others to blame,” Andrew Toynbee, Thurston County chief criminal deputy prosecuting attorney, said Friday.

Prosecutors believe Martin threw battery acid in Buckley’s face the evening of Sept. 10 after Buckley answered a knock on his door. Buckley was treated at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He suffered minor injuries in the 9:25 p.m. attack.

In a response to the court ruling, the former girlfriend stated she feared Martin had “nothing left to lose” because of proceedings taking place to remove him from the military. “I do fear that this makes him even more of a threat to me and others,” she wrote in March 2012.

Johnstone also discovered an entry on Martin’s Facebook page on June 29, 2012, that warned Joint Base Lewis-McChord personnel whom he believed had wronged him to “stay lookin over ur shouler cuz if you dont u might find ur damn face melting of ur (expletive) skulls.”

Toynbee said Friday that if Martin is found guilty of the assault and malicious mischief charges related to Buckley’s attack, he could face a 10-year prison sentence. Toynbee added that there are several potential aggravating factors that could add more years to the sentence.
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