Trial for Kalama man accused of aiding deputy slayer delayed to October

LONGVIEW — The trial against a Kalama man charged with criminally aiding another man who killed a Cowlitz County sheriff’s deputy was delayed Monday to start in late October.

Matthew Veatch, 25 is accused of helping Brian Butts flee a law enforcement manhunt after Butts shot Deputy Justin DeRosier on the night of April 13. DeRosier, who was responding to a complaint of a motorhome blocking the roadway near the 100 block of Fallert Road in Kalama, died the following morning from his injuries.

At about 2 a.m. April 14 — several hours after DeRosier was shot — officers found Matthew Veatch near the end of Modrow Road, disheveled and muddy. He told officers that he was at his Fallert Road residence when he heard a gunshot, and that minutes later, Butts arrived from out of the bushes, according to police records. Butts gave Veatch a handgun to get rid of, which deputies later found in Veatch’s room, according to a search warrant.

According to police records, Veatch admitted to leading Butts away from the residence on foot through a forested area, even as Butts told him that he “had shot a cop.”

Later in the evening of April 14, two Kelso officers found Butts on Spencer Creek Road, where an armed confrontation ensued, according to the warrant. Butts was shot and killed by the two officers, who were later cleared of any wrongdoing.

Veatch’s trial is now scheduled to begin the morning of October 29. It was previously set to begin last week. Veatch is charged with first-degree rendering of criminal assistance, a felony, and has posted bond for his $50,000 bail through a bond company.Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.