Man given 30 years for robbery, shooting.

Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard

A 22-year-old ex-convict with a history of childhood abuse, crime and addiction was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison for armed robbery during a drug deal and, in a separate incident a few hours later, shooting into the car of a man who stopped him from trying to steal a vehicle.

"You are too dangerous for me to let out," Lane County Circuit Judge Darryl Larson told Dale Paul Welch as he imposed the maximum sentence allowed for Welch's crimes. Larson noted that Welch has 17 prior felony convictions and was out of prison for only 11 days before he pulled a gun on three people - including a woman with an infant - during an April 17 drug deal.

Defense lawyer Laura Fine sought a more lenient term, saying Welch was raised by outlaw parents who allowed him to use their methamphetamine - if he paid for it - and moved him through more than two dozen states to stay ahead of police.

Fine said Welch had never received help for attention deficit disorder and may suffer drug-induced brain damage from heavy methamphetamine use since age 15.

"We are punishing him for his parents' crimes, for illnesses that have not been treated, for being a drug addict," Fine said in court. "It's simply warehousing."

Fine asked for a sentence of about 12 years, saying the maximum term sends the message that there is no hope for Welch's future.

But Deputy Lane County District Attorney Karl Matthews said the maximum sentence is a matter of public safety. He said Welch earned a shorter prison term on an earlier theft conviction by completing the state's boot camp program, intended to help inmates reform. Instead, he returned to a life of crime.

Hours after Welch robbed the marijuana dealer, he tried to steal a car from a shopping center parking lot, Matthews said. A motorist notified a store manager, who called police, chased Welch from the parking lot and followed him in his car.

When the store manager drove up while Welch walked on a River Road sidewalk, Welch pulled a stolen .38-caliber revolver, placed it against the passenger side window pointing at the man's chest and fired, Matthews said. Investigators surmised that the window deflected the bullet downward into the car's center console.

The victim, who asked not to be identified, told the judge he recalls looking down the barrel of the revolver and fearing his two children would lose their father in a murder.

Welch, wearing green jail clothes and chains on his wrists and ankles, apologized to the victims before he was sentenced. Welch was convicted in a nonjury trial on three counts each of robbery, kidnapping and theft and one count each of attempted first-degree assault, unlawful weapon possession and pointing a firearm at another person.

Two accomplices were sentenced earlier.

Anthony Paul Arnold, 33, of Springfield, was sentenced to 9 1/2 years for robbery and being a felon in possession of guns. He claimed that he did not know Welch planned a robbery, but a jury convicted him for robbery, theft and illegal gun possession.

The getaway driver, Jeremy Adam Leighton, 23, of Springfield, made a plea deal on a charge of second-degree robbery and was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison, according to court records.