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An Everett man accused of spraying the synthetic opioid fentanyl up his ex-girlfriend’s nose in an apparent attempt to have her overdose was found guilty of second-degree assault in Snohomish County Superior Court late last week.

The incident took place at the Staybridge Suites on Mukilteo Speedway during the morning of May 19, 2018. The man, Zachary Madding, had a trial earlier this year, but according to court records, it was declared a mistrial due to an error in the testimony of a Mukilteo police officer. The officer incorrectly said Madding didn’t provide a statement to officers when arrested. The retrial began this month.

According to court records obtained by The Beacon last year, Madding was initially charged with attempted second-degree murder, domestic violence, unlawful imprisonment, criminal impersonation in the first degree (false identity), and making a false or misleading statement to a public servant.

When speaking with The Beacon last summer, Mukilteo Assistant Police Chief Glen Koen described the scene: Officers reportedly responded to a report of an assault and found two men fighting in the Staybridge parking lot. One man was Madding, the woman’s ex-boyfriend, and the other was the woman’s current boyfriend.

“We arrived and soon discovered it was a domestic situation,” Koen said last May. “The suspect had held a young lady in his room.”

According to multiple witnesses, as well as court records, Madding’s ex-girlfriend was seen running through the hotel lobby outside, crying.

According to a Staybridge employee who testified at the trial in May, the current boyfriend entered the hotel, asking if his girlfriend was there. The employee told him she was unable to provide guest information. The man waited in the lobby, and soon, chaos ensued.

“Next thing I noticed, I saw him jump out of a lobby seat and start yelling, and he ran out the front door of the lobby as he was yelling and screaming,” the Staybridge employee stated in a court transcript obtained by The Beacon. “I didn’t want the other guests to get concerned, so I ran around the desk and go out the front door to see what was going on and I see the lady … running through the parking lot.”

After that, the Staybridge employee ran back inside and called 911 after Madding and the boyfriend started fighting.

According to court records, the woman had been in contact with Madding in the days leading up to the assault, and stayed the night with Madding at the hotel the night before According to court records, the woman used Madding’s phone to text the current boyfriend to pick her up.

According to court records, the woman had expected to get Xanax from Madding, but he had flushed the drugs she was expecting to receive down the toilet. Later, the two argued, and she was forced to take Xanax and fentanyl. She reportedly had been off fentanyl for a few days. The dose was high, causing the overdose.

While the two men wrestled outside, the other man was able to subdue Manning as police arrived, court records show.

“So as I was parking my car, I could see two males fighting. They were in a physical altercation before I even got out of my car,” Mukilteo Police Corporal Andrew Jones said in court transcripts from May.

Jones said his first priority was to stop the fight, and that he didn’t have a chance to see if the woman was breathing or had a pulse when he arrived.

“Looking at how she was slumped over on the bench, I couldn’t tell if she was dead or alive,” he said.

Jones said he was soon told that the woman had a significant amount of Xanax and fentanyl in her system, and that it was likely a lethal amount. Responders the administered Narcan, which can help reverse opioid overdoses, and the woman survived.

Madding will appear in court later this month for sentencing.