Daniel Raavel was sleeping on a friend’s couch last June and woke up to a “crack.”

Raavel would later tell a deputy he looked up to see another young man holding a wooden cane and yelling at him to get out of the house.

Raavel soon realized he was bleeding from a gruesome wound on his forehead. He walked to a neighbor’s house and asked the resident to call 911.

Paramedics rushed Raavel to Whidbey General Hospital. Doctors discovered his skull was fractured and pieces of bone were stuck in his sinus cavity. He was transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment because of the seriousness of the injury, according to his mother, Luanne Raavel.

A deputy with the Island County Sheriff’s Office investigated and took photos of the gaping wound and the blood spattered all over the house. Raavel identified the man who allegedly hit him as 32-year-old Troy Hilkey, according to the investigating deputy’s report.

What seemed a cut-and-dried criminal case to the Raavel family, however, turned out to be anything but. It ultimately launched Luanne Raavel’s personal mission to obtain justice on behalf of her son.

That’s because an Island County deputy prosecutor decided not to file charges because Hilkey had alibi witnesses, according to documents on file in Island County Superior Court.

Luannne Raavel said she was outraged by the decision. She believed authorities weren’t taking the assault seriously because her children have had previous brushes with the law, perhaps, because Hilkey’s brother claimed they are related to a prominent Island County judge.

“My son was so seriously hurt,” she said. “It was something as a mother I couldn’t let go.”

Alibi witnesses were Hilkey’s brother, Luanne Ravel said, as well Hilkey’s two friends, which Raavel said she believes weren’t unbiased observers.

She wrote letters to the Island County Prosecutor’s Office and spoke with the deputy from the sheriff’s office, trying to push for prosecution.

Raavel said she reflected and prayed about it for a few months before contacting the Whidbey News-Times. Prompted by the extremely gruesome nature of the photos of her son’s injuries, the newspaper contacted Prosecutor Greg Banks, who said he wasn’t aware of the case.

Banks subsequently looked into the case and then quickly reopened it. He asked the Island County Sheriff’s Office to investigate.

“We made a mistake,” Banks later said.

Last week, prosecutors charged Hilkey in Island County Superior Court with second-degree assault. If convicted, he could face up to 17 months in prison under the standard sentencing range.

Banks said the original decision by the deputy prosecutor not to charge was “hasty” and issued without the benefit of a full investigation.

Banks said he used this case as an opportunity to remind the criminal prosecutors that the office’s charging standards encourage charging crimes against persons based on a lower quantity of evidence than for charging property crimes.

Luanne Raavel said she’s happy that Hilkey is now charged, though she believes the charge should be attempted murder.

“It was totally unprovoked,” she said.

The injury to her son, who didn’t want to be interviewed for the story, was so serious that the family worried about brain damage at first; thankfully, that didn’t happen. He is still suffering from the aftermath, Raavel said.

Born legally blind in the left eye, the assault left Daniel Raavel’s other eye with blurred vision, his mother said. He now suffers horrible headaches and bears the scar of the attack.

Luanne Raavel said she didn’t know of any bad blood between her son and Hilkey to explain the attack. She said Daniel is the kind of guy who would do something nice for someone but wouldn’t want anyone to know.

According to the deputy’s report, Raavel was visiting his sister at a home in Rolling Hills June 19 and fell asleep on her couch. Hilkey’s friend also lived at the home; Hilkey lived a block away, the report indicates.

Daniel Raavel told the deputy that he awoke when Hilkey hit him with a stick or cane; Hilkey, who had a broken foot at the time, yelled at him to leave, the deputy’s report states.

Hilkey’s brother later told the deputy that Hilkey was sleeping or “passed out” on their couch all day and couldn’t have committed the assault. Hilkey’s brother became upset when the deputy detained Hilkey, and the brother said he was going to call his uncle, who is a judge, the report states.

Hilkey’s brother also allegedly told the deputy he would not be able to find “it,” apparently referring to the cane used in the assault, the report said.

Banks said detectives went back and reinterviewed witnesses. In addition, Banks obtained medical records for Raavel, which showed that wood splinters were removed from his head wound.

“It’s a stronger case now,” Banks said.