Court documents filed Jan. 26 argue that Ian Cranston doesn’t meet the standards for a pretrial release as he awaits a November trial for the shooting of Barry Washington, Jr. Kevin Sali, Cranston’s attorney, filed a motion for release on bail on Dec. 30 and painted a different picture than that presented by prosecutors of the events leading up to the shooting of Washington on Sept. 19.
Sali’s document claims Cranston acted in self-defense, that Washington punched Cranston unprovoked, was undeterred upon seeing Cranston’s handgun, that he turned toward Cranston before the shooting and that Cranston immediately provided aid to Washington after the shooting. Prosecutors contest nearly all these assertions and maintain that evidence supports the charge of murder.
A timeline of events in the prosecutor’s documents have Washington arriving at The Capitol, a bar in downtown Bend, shortly after 11 pm with a friend. A few minutes later Cranston entered the bar with his fiancée Allison Butler and a friend named Tyler Smith, both of whom knew Cranston was carrying a concealed pistol, documents say. Washington approached Butler around midnight, complimenting her and having a brief encounter that ended with a hug.
At 12:05 am Washington left The Capitol and spoke with a group of people on the street. Two minutes later Cranston, Butler and Smith left the bar to smoke cigarettes. Washington approached Butler again, talked to her and called her “good looking,” the documents state.
Cranston responded by saying something to the effect of, “she’s taken, move along, mind your business,” according to court documents. An argument escalated and Washington punched Cranston twice, stumbling him.
“It is unclear from the video if Defendant fell down, but in any event, Defendant immediately recovered to his feet and within five seconds Defendant was on his feet and produced a handgun from his waist, holding it at his side in his right hand as he walked towards Washington,” Deputy District Attorney J. Michael Swart wrote.
Smith and Butler got in between Cranston and Washington as both parties continued to argue. Prosecutors say Butler may have obstructed Washington’s view of the gun, and that Sali’s claim that Washington was “completely undeterred by the sight of Cranston’s handgun” is speculative.
Washington started walking down Oregon Avenue away from Smith and Butler, before Butler walked towards him while recording a video on her cell phone. Smith followed and called Washington a name, and they began struggling. It was then that Cranston fired his handgun, the documents state.
“Defense in their motion states that Washington turned at and squared towards Cranston. The State disagrees with this statement and the video will demonstrate this is incorrect. As is the defense’s representation that Cranston immediately rendered aid to Washington,” Swart wrote. “Rather, the video time stamp shows that for seventeen seconds, Cranston looked around with his firearm still at his side and it was not until 12:09:39 am, that he walked to and leaned over a dying Barry Washington, eventually rendering aid.
A total of 26 seconds passed between Washington punching Cranston, and Cranston shooting Washington. Prosecutors say that Cranston had no right to use deadly force, and point to Smith’s interview with police where he said he didn’t fear for his life and was surprised Cranston shot Washington.
“Cranston’s belief about the need for deadly force is fallacious since his actions were unreasonable for the following reasons: First, Cranston faced no imminent danger of suffering serious physical injury or death. Second, Cranston’s response to use deadly force in response to at best a continuing misdemeanor assault was astonishingly disproportionate,” Swart wrote.
Cranston’s bail hearing is scheduled for Feb. 8, and the District Attorney’s Office requested it be closed to the public.
This article appears in Source Weekly January 27, 2022.
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Cranston and Butler should both go to jail. It seems that she was an accomplice in this situation by video taping and following him during this event and shows absolutely no remorse or shock that her fianc just shot and killed a man in the the audio of the video….like it was some everyday occurrence. And why in the hell is it legal to be in a bar drinking alcohol and have a loaded gun on you? Guns and booze don’t belong together. How does that make any sense? We need to change some laws. My heart goes out to Barry Washington, his family and the BIPOC community. This should have never happened and I hope justice is served to these people for killing another human being.
The Bulletin provided some additional reporting about Butler’s grand jury testimony. She is reported to have said, “Ian doesn’t back down. He’s defensive over me, and he’s not the kind of guy to be pushed around.” So, I guy who doesn’t like to be pushed around walks into a bar with a concealed weapon and starts drinking. What could possibly go wrong?