FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
| Date: | August 11, 2022 |
| Contact: | Emily Lowe Public Information Officer 208-287-7700 |
| RE: | State v. Peter Kuyper – Sentencing |
BOISE – Peter Kuyper, 37, was sentenced Wednesday for aggravated assault upon a law enforcement officer for shooting a firearm at an Ada County Sheriff’s Deputy last fall.
The Honorable Justice Joel Horton sentenced Mr. Kuyper to 15 years in prison with three years fixed before being eligible for parole. The prosecutor’s office requested a sentence of 25 years with 15 fixed before being eligible for parole.
In the late hours of October 27, 2021, dispatch received a report of a man who fired a handgun while driving his vehicle near Interstate 84 and Meridian Road. A short time later, law enforcement spotted the vehicle driven by Mr. Kuyper, and initiated a traffic stop. Mr. Kuyper stopped, but then fled the scene going more than 80 mph on city streets. Eventually, Mr. Kuyper drove into a Boise trailer park where he exited his vehicle. Upon exiting his vehicle, the defendant fired his handgun at a sheriff’s deputy. The deputy was not hit or injured. A four-hour standoff ensued at the trailer park before the defendant was taken into custody.
In June 2022, Mr. Kuyper pled guilty to aggravated assault upon certain personnel, with an enhancement for using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony.
“The defendant’s actions put the entire community at risk, in addition to the responding law enforcement officers from the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, the Boise Police Department and Meridian Police Department,” said Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts. “I’m grateful for the deputies’ and officers’ response on this night, and I am thankful no one was seriously injured.”