Man pleads guilty to attempted murder for injecting 4-year-old son with heroin

Published 3:33 pm Thursday, August 13, 2015

Staff Report

A Redmond man pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon to attempted murder in the first degree for attempting to kill his 4-year-old son in 2013 by injecting him with heroin, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office website.

The defendant, Eric E. Lehtinen, 39, will face a sentence range of 15 to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors will recommend a sentence of 20 years in prison.

Lehtinen is currently scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 4 before Judge Mary Roberts in courtroom W-905 of the King County Courthouse. The case was handled by Senior Deputy Prosecutor Don Raz and Deputy Prosecutor Ben Gauen.

Lehtinen’s son was released from Seattle Children’s Hospital in October 2013.

In a 2013 Reporter story, it was noted that Redmond police and fire personnel responded to a house in the 14100 block of Northeast 72nd Street at 11:45 a.m. on Sept. 24, 2013 after receiving a 911 call from the boy’s mother, who had come home to find her husband and their son breathing but unconscious.

Lehtinen’s wife came to the residence after she was unable to reach her estranged husband by phone. She found the two in Lehtinen’s bed apparently asleep, according to King County court documents. Lehtinen had vomit coming out of his mouth and the boy was lying on his back, partially covered by a blanket. When Lehtinen’s wife lifted the blanket, she discovered a syringe — loaded with a dark liquid — on the boy’s chest with the needle pointed toward his neck. Both father and son were unresponsive.

A few hours after Lehtinen and his son were found, a search warrant was served on the residence. According to court documents, seven syringes containing a liquid believed to be illegal drugs were found in the room where Lehtinen and his son were discovered. Three used syringes were also located in the bedroom. Other drug-related evidence found included a burnt spoon with residue, multiple scales, package equipment and alcohol pads. Police also found $12,620 in cash inside the home, according to documents.

Joel Vangel, who has lived in the house next door to Lehtinen’s residence since the 1980s, said Lehtinen mostly kept to himself but he did have a lot of visitors.

“He had a lot of people coming and going over the years,” Vangel told the Reporter in 2013.

A few years earlier, he said, the drug-enforcement unit from the Bellevue Police Department came by Lehtinen’s house because they were suspicious of drug activity and wanted to learn the layout of the house in case they needed to raid it.

Vangel, who is retired but still works part time at EvergreenHealth, said he knew Lehtinen had issues, but not the extent and didn’t see any reason to call the police.

“They weren’t bothering me,” he said, adding that Lehtinen’s son used to play with other children in the neighborhood, as well.

Lehtinen and his wife had been married for nearly six years and were in the process of getting a divorce — which documents state was finalized the day Lehtinen and his son were found unconscious in his home. According to documents, Lehtinen had recently requested his wife delay the finalization of their divorce.

His wife said Lehtinen had been a heroin and ketamine user in the past but had told her he had stopped. Due to his past, Lehtinen’s wife insisted that part of the divorce and child custody visitation agreement was that he submit to drug testing to ensure their son’s safety, documents state.

Until Sept. 15, Lehtinen’s wife and son were living in San Francisco. She returned to Washington with the boy for a job interview and allowed their son to stay with Lehtinen on the evening of Sept. 23. At that time, documents state that Lehtinen’s wife thought he was depressed “but she did not see any reason to remove (their son) from (Lehtinen’s) care.” Until last week, she did not know her estranged husband had been using drugs again.