I-90 gun battle suspect gets jail

COEUR d'ALENE — On the night of June 22, 2014, Marcus A. Rael transformed a stretch of Interstate 90 in Post Falls into a war zone, said police officers who fought the gun battle with him.

Rael was sentenced Tuesday by 1st District Court Judge Fred M. Gibler to 20 to 45 years in prison. He agreed to be sentenced on 10 felony counts of aggravated assault on police officers.

"The events that unfolded that night were unbelievable," Coeur d'Alene Police Officer Pete Tufford said during the sentencing hearing in a victim-impact statement. The level of violence unleashed that night by Rael was far beyond anything Tufford thought would ever occur in the community.

No officers were physically injured in the gun battle.

Rael had been pulled over by one officer that night in a routine traffic stop. When the officer began investigating for possible marijuana use, Rael fled, leading police on a chase that ended in the gun battle on an elevated section of the interstate. Rael fired nearly 60 rounds using military style weapons, including an AK-47. One round hit a police vehicle just inches from an officer's head.

Rael took up a position between his Nissan Titan truck and a concrete barrier on the freeway.

"I knew it was a matter of time before I was hit," Coeur d'Alene Police Officer Joshua Schneider told the court.

Schneider said he was determined to do everything he could in his final moments to protect his fellow officers.

"My life was changed forever the night I met Marcus Rael," Schneider said.

A half dozen officers — from Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls and the Idaho State Police — took the stand and talked about the shooting. They were among the officers Rael shot at that night.

"You were given several opportunities to give yourself up," Gibler said before handing down the sentence.

Gibler told Rael, 25, the only reason he is alive today is because the very officers he had been firing upon came to his rescue after he had been shot and wounded.

Rael, during the sentencing hearing, rambled on about his injury recovery process and finding religion while he was locked up. He did thank the police officers for saving his life.

"You guys are truly heroes," Rael said.

He was not tried in this case, but reached a plea deal with prosecutors.

Rael's defense attorney, Sean Walsh, told Gibler that Rael and his family had some bad experiences with police in the past.

"He was afraid he would get jumped," Walsh said.

Rael had recently moved to North Idaho from Arizona.

Kootenai County Deputy Prosecutor David Robins asked for 25 years mandatory prison time along with additional indeterminate time when he would be eligible for release.

"That is the sentence that society expects," Robins said.

Rael turned Post Falls into a "war zone," putting the public at risk along with the officers, Robins said. Bullets struck buildings and other private property.

Robins also criticized Rael for being unapologetic about the shooting.

Robins said eight of the 10 officers shot at by Rael now have children.

"Inches is all that separated life from death in this (shooting)," he said.