Two brothers were sentenced to life in prison today by Humboldt County Judge Steven Steward after being found guilty last month of the attempted murder of a peace officer and robbery, as well as other counts, for a crime spree in Eureka that left several people injured and ended with both men shot by police.
Brandon Michael Widmark, 29, was sentenced to 39 years and eight months to life in prison and Jesse ChakChak Widmark, 20, was sentenced to serve 56 years and four months to life in prison, according to a press release from the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office.
“I am extremely grateful for the heroic actions of the officers involved,” District Attorney Stacey Eads says in the release. “The thoughtful verdicts of the jury and Judge Steward’s sentencing imposed are just, and with this outcome may these two defendants never harm another again.”
The April 18, 2023, rampage began with the brothers robbing a man at the Bayshore Mall before fleeing the scene and hitting a pedestrian at the intersection of Washington and Summer streets, leaving the “seriously injured pedestrian in the street,” the release states.
After a deputy on patrol attempted a traffic stop on a red truck matching the description of the one involved in both incidents, Brandon Widmark, who was driving, fled at a high-rate of speed, according to the DA’s Office, before colliding with another vehicle at the intersection of Dolbeer and Harris streets, “causing serious injury to the people inside.”
At that point, the release states, “the defendants got out of the now-disabled truck, and armed themselves with rifles,” with Jesse Widmark firing one shot at the deputy, “missing his head by less than 2 feet,” but striking the patrol vehicle.
Other Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office officers who responded to the scene opened fire, with each of the Widmark brothers shot seven times, the release states.
“Although Brandon was shot before he was able to fire a round, he continued to manipulate his firearm in a manner consistent with trying to clear a malfunction or to load a round into the chamber,” the DA’s Office states, adding he was shot after refusing “commands to drop his weapon.”
(Find previous Journal coverage here, here and here.)
After a seven-week trial, a jury found both men guilty of the attempted murder of a peace officer, multiple counts of assault with a firearm on a peace officer, forcefully resisting a peace officer and robbery. In addition, Brandon Widmark was convicted of felony hit and run causing injury, evading an officer and causing injury, child abuse, false imprisonment and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the DA’s Office.
Find the full release here.
This article appears in Portrait of a Prairie.
