Puyallup man convicted of assaulting golfer with 6-iron

A jury in Kent has convicted a 33-year-old Puyallup man of felony assault with a deadly weapon for taking a 6-iron to the head of a fellow golfer last summer during a dispute at the Auburn Golf Course.

Nicholas Shampine now faces between 15 and 21 months in state prison for second-degree assault. Sentencing was set for June 26 before King County Superior Court Judge Deborah Fleck at the Regional Justice Center in Kent.

Shampine, who had no criminal record, remains free until then.

The jury deliberated less than an hour Tuesday after a five-day trial before finding Shampine guilty of seriously injuring golfer James Compton, 45, also of Puyallup.

Compton was in a foursome behind Shampine's foursome last July when an argument broke out. According to police reports and prosecutors, Compton's group complained that Shampine's group was playing too slowly, while Shampine's group was upset that Compton's group was being too noisy.

A shoving match broke out on the 14th green, and Shampine smacked Compton in the left temple with the iron. Compton fell to the turf in convulsions, bleeding heavily, and was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

"It was pretty brutal; he basically crushed his skull in, and for no reason," said deputy prosecutor Dan Soukup. "He could have killed him."

Shampine argued that he had intervened to protect his older brother, who was in his foursome.

Compton still suffers from memory loss and confusion and moves very slowly, Soukup said. He is having a hard time returning to his job as a supervisor at a pallet-making company.