A drunken brawl back in June of this year could have turned out worse. During the altercation, a weapon was allegedly discharged, but thankfully, no one was injured by the shot. Unfortunately, one of the men ended up facing felony charges in connection with the incident.
Reportedly, both men had been drinking that night. The man that was arrested went to the Ohio home of the other man, and the two ended up in a fight. What started inside the alleged victim’s home ended up continuing in the yard. The purported victim claims that the other man produced a weapon, which the victim then grabbed, and it went off. The accused individual denies this ever happened.
The argument was supposedly over a debt one man felt was owed to him by the other. The victim claims that the other man said he was hired to kill the victim. Both men seem to disagree about what really happened that night, and the whole truth may never be known.
What is known, however, is that the accused man pleaded not guilty to the felony charges. On Nov. 4, he agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for a lighter sentence. He ultimately pleaded guilty to aggravated menacing. In exchange, prosecutors are going to recommend the man be sentenced to pay a fine of $1,000 and serve 180 days in jail. However, under the plea arrangement, both of those penalties can be suspended so long as he stays out of trouble for two years and abides by other orders of the court.
When someone in Ohio is facing felony charges, all of the evidence and other information authorities have will need to be thoroughly reviewed. There are times when it is in the best interest of the person accused to negotiate a plea bargain with prosecutors in order to avoid spending a significant amount of time in prison. In some cases, like this one, it may even be possible to avoid any time in jail at all.
Source: athensnews.com, Man charged in fight where gun went off pleads to reduced charge, No author, Nov. 5, 2013