Gerald Strebendt Case Brief

By: Shawn Vincent

On the evening of January 29, 2014, Gerald Strebendt shot and killed David Crofut on the Bob Straub Parkway, a dark stretch of road on the rural outskirts of Springfield, Oregon. Strebendt, 34, was a veteran U.S. Marine Corps sniper, a former Blackwater contractor, and a professional mixed martial artist who fought under the nickname “The Finishing Machine.” Crofut, 53, was driving home from a bar with a blood alcohol content of .156, nearly twice the legal limit. The two vehicles came together on the parkway. Strebendt said Crofut braked so suddenly that he had to pass on the right shoulder; Crofut’s wife, riding in the front seat, said Strebendt had cut them off. Crofut’s Nissan Rogue then struck Strebendt’s GMC Denali from behind — accelerating, never touching the brakes — while the Denali sat at an angle across the traffic lanes.

Strebendt claims his truck would not restart, and he heard the Croufuts shouting obscenities and making threats. Strebendt took a loaded .223 rifle from the back seat, dialed 9-1-1, and got out. Ignoring the rifle, Crofut advanced as Strebendt backed away—roughly eighty feet, by his attorney’s account—shouting for the stranger to stop. The 9-1-1 recording catches him telling the dispatcher, “I’m backing away from him… I’ve got a loaded weapon and he’s coming towards me… I can’t see his hands.” Five seconds later, a single shot. Crofut’s touch DNA was later recovered from the rifle barrel, consistent with the account that he had closed to contact distance. Strebendt’s first words when the call reconnected were “Send an ambulance right now.” He surrendered with his hands up, asked for a lawyer, and was released that night without charges.

After an investigation, Strebendt was indicted for murder, and the reason had almost nothing to do with those ninety seconds. Roughly six days before the shooting, Strebendt had posted on Facebook: “If you like to drive slow guess what? You should be in the slow lane. If you want to drive greater than the speed limit guess what? You should be in my lane. If you get this confused somehow guess what? I will strike hard and fast like a cobra should the opportunity present itself.” Detective George Crolly’s affidavit gathered more: Strebendt’s ex-wife told investigators he had an extraordinary history of road-rage incidents, as often as three to five times a week, and that he deliberately cut off other drivers. A witness reported seeing Strebendt’s truck turn south onto the parkway and speed after Crofut’s car at more than 60 miles an hour.

The most damaging witness was the man who died. Multiple people told Crolly they heard Crofut, in the moments after the crash, asking why Strebendt had cut him off and slammed on his brakes. One account has him refusing a bystander’s offer of help: “No, I don’t need you to call 9-1-1. I want to know why he slammed on his brakes.”

A Lane County grand jury heard ten witnesses and indicted Strebendt for murder with a firearm. He was arrested March 6, 2014, and held without bail. Circuit Judge Debra Vogt imposed a gag order, denied an open-court bail hearing, and sealed the related filings. She never ruled on whether the prior-bad-acts evidence—the Facebook posts, the aggressive driving, and worse would reach a jury. On May 21, 2015, after fourteen and a half months in custody, Strebendt pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide with a firearm and was sentenced to 58 months, three years of post-prison supervision, a permanent firearms prohibition, and mandatory psychological evaluation and treatment. He was released in 2017.

Lane County District Attorney Alex Gardner’s statement at the plea gave both halves of the case: “While the investigation clearly established the role of Mr. Strebendt’s aggression in causing the initial vehicle collision with Mr. Crofut, it also showed that Mr. Crofut continued to approach Mr. Strebendt even though he knew Mr. Strebendt was agitated and armed with a firearm. The victim’s behavior did not justify Mr. Strebendt’s actions but, together with Mr. Strebendt’s mental condition, it contributed to the tragic end result.”

Lessons for Armed Defenders

Don’t provoke a potential aggressor (Lesson #11)

Strebendt committed no assault. He threw no punch and issued no challenge at the scene. The State’s theory ran through his driving—the brake-checking, the cut-off, the truck left at an angle across the road—and through a Facebook post written six days earlier announcing what he would do “should the opportunity present itself.” Strebendt’s defense attorney, Mike Arnold—a scrappy former rugby player—wrote that the case made him introspective about some of his own provocative behavior: “ I’ve never gone looking for trouble, but I’ve always been ready for it. And maybe that readiness has helped me find it.” Strebendt was ready for trouble, and on the night of January 14, 2014, he found it. 

Don’t say foolish things (Lesson #33)

The cobra Facebook post gave prosecutors a window into Strebendt’s mindset, and it was written nearly a week before the fatal encounter. Nobody had to argue that he was looking for a fight on the highway; he had already written down what he would do when he found one. Anything a defender publishes about how and when they would use force becomes discoverable the moment they are charged, and it could eventually be presented to a jury with the defender’s own name attached.

Call 9-1-1 (Lesson #30)

In many ways, Strebendt’s 9-1-1 call helped his defense. He called before he fired, and the recording captured him retreating and issuing verbal warnings—generally not the actions of a murderer. However, because the prosecution believed Strebendt provoked the confrontation, attorney Mike Arnold feared a skeptical juror might find the call was evidence of a calculating man building a record to make a murder look like self-defense. While it’s important to make a 9-1-1 call after a shooting, what an armed defender says could be used against them

Avoid the fight (Lesson #36)

While Strebendt made clear efforts to de-escalate the encounter after the vehicle collision, it’s clear Strebendt’s actions before the collision were designed to spark a confrontation.  A witness described his truck chasing Crofut’s car onto the parkway. His ex-wife described a habit of aggressive driving several times a week. Strebendt admitted to his attorney Mike Arnold that he had become what he always hated: a bully who was always looking for a fight. 

Understand the legal consequences (Lesson #3)

Strebendt’s military and fighting credentials gave him confidence he could win practically any physical confrontation. They did nothing to prepare him for the legal battle that followed, and they arguably hampered his legal defense because his reputation as a trained killer was part of why a judge held him without bail for more than a year. He never got a ruling, never got a trial, and took a plea because fourteen months in behind bars made the arithmetic simple. As he put it: “It’s basic math. It’s insurance that I don’t have to run the risk of a jury getting it wrong.”