Scott Harmier, the Vancouver, Washington man who stabbed four of his fellow poker players in an unprovoked attack inside a Vancouver-area cardroom last December, will serve 25 years in prison for the attacks.
Harmier was sentenced on September 8 in a Clark County (WA) Superior Court after pleading guilty to four offenses involving the stabbing spree. He pled guilty to one count of first-degree felony assault and three counts of third-degree felony assault, while other charges were dismissed. The first-degree assault charge alone could have resulted in Harmier being sentenced to life in prison.
Harmier had originally pled not guilty in the case, which had been continued several times from its first scheduling for February 2023. The plea deal was approved by Judge David E. Gregerson and means that his jury trial, which had been moved to October, has been cancelled.
The now-42-year-old Harmier (at right; image source The Columbian) led police on a high-speed chase after fleeing the Last Frontier Casino in La Center, Washington following the knife attack on other players last December 13. He escaped pursuers outside the cardroom, then drove south at speeds over 100 mph to the outskirts of Vancouver, where his car was forcibly disabled by pursuing police vehicles. Harmier was pulled from the vehicle without further incident.
At the Last Frontier, responding officers found four other players with non-threatening knife wounds; three of the four were treated and released, while the fourth was hospitalized briefly. Security cameras captured footage of the attacks, which began with Harmier reaching below table level and emerging with a hunting knife, which he used to stab the player on his immediate left five times. The other three stabbings occurred as other players attempted to intervene or pursue Harmier as he fled.
Harmier, who has a long criminal history, had been held on a $1.5 million bond after being arraigned shortly after the violent attack.
