Jeremiah Sweet pleaded October 24 to one count of unlawful use of a weapon for the incident September 15.
Prosecuting Attorney Dwight Scroggins told the court that Sweet was in a vehicle with a handgun he’d bought intending to sell.
Scroggins said the defendant pointed the weapon out the window into the air to test it but it would not fire. When Sweet examined the weapon Scroggins said it fired, hitting a woman in the same car in the clavicle.
According to Scroggins, the vehicle broke down soon thereafter at the Belt and Faraon. The woman then got out of the vehicle intending to walk to the hospital. The two men in the car with her tried to keep her in the car, and that’s what got the attention of a detective sergeant with the St. Joseph Police Department.
According to court documents, Sgt. Jason Strong says he confronted Sweet, who got out of the vehicle and fled on foot. After an extensive dragnet by St. Joseph police, Sweet was located in a shed at a nearby mobile home park. Police also found a blue cooler containing drug paraphernalia, the firearm, and Sweet’s wallet.
Prosecutor Scroggins asked the judge to send the defendant to prison, calling him a drug user with a firearm, and saying “these types of people need to go to prison, to see where they’re going to be if they don’t change.”
Scroggins called Sweet an inappropriate candidate for probation.
Assistant Public Defender Angela Tatro disagreed, telling the judge that her client is making an effort to change, and that his criminal record includes only misdemeanors. Tatro says the two men in the car were trying to get the woman to the hospital, that Sweet has admitted he was on drugs and off his psychiatric medications. She said her client admits it was a stupid thing to do and that it was stupid to even buy the gun.
Circuit Judge Patrick Robb granted Tatro’s request for probation. He suspended imposition of a two year prison sentence and placed Sweet on probation for four years.