Man sentenced for robbery, burglary, battery

COEUR d’ALENE — A Hayden man who was blacked-out drunk before his arrest by a SWAT team for breaking into a Post Falls home with an accomplice and beating the residents, including an 11-year-old girl, was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

A jury convicted Matthew J. McCoy, 32, for three felonies including conspiracy to commit robbery, burglary and two counts of battery with intent to commit a robbery. He was sentenced to three concurrent 10-year fixed prison terms.

First District Judge John Mitchell added an additional four-year prison sentence for McCoy’s beating of an 11-year-old girl, who he dragged by her hair through her home and choked as she screamed, attempting to escape, according to court records.

“What you did to her, you have given her a life sentence,” Mitchell told McCoy at Tuesday’s sentencing in Coeur d’Alene. “She’ll never be the same and that’s entirely on you.”

Mitchell added 26 additional years behind bars for McCoy, which prison officials can impose at their discretion.

McCoy and another man, Jared Allen, allegedly entered the the victims’ residence one night in December demanding money. A loud and bloody fight ensued that prompted neighbors to call police and step in to break up the fracas.

“They went into someone else’s home, beat the crap out of a man and a little girl,” deputy prosecutor Jed Whitaker said. “He pulled her through the trailer by her hair.”

The 11-year-old tried to escape by breaking a window with a bowling pin, Whitaker said. The 29-year-old victim, Tyler Matthew, suffered extensive bruises, a swollen, black eye and an ear that was partially bitten off.

McCoy and Allen fled the scene. Allen was arrested nearby and McCoy, who told police he was blacked-out drunk, stole a car and was arrested later by a SWAT team at his Hayden home.

Defense attorneys asked the court to retain jurisdiction and get McCoy drug and alcohol treatment, but Mitchell declined.

“There are probably 30 people in this courtroom that have been that drunk and never hurt a single person,” Mitchell said. “‘Just drunk’ people don’t do things like this.”

Mitchell last month sentenced Allen, 22, to 10 years behind bars but retained jurisdiction for his part in the attempted robbery.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Mitchell told the court that he wasn’t sure if he would place Allen on probation after he completes his 12-month prison term.

“I’m not confident I will give him probation when he returns,” Mitchell said. “I told him that.”