Agreement nets four years in prison for man accused of shooting friend, assaulting woman
A Hagerstown-area man charged in separate cases last year with assaulting his girlfriend and later shooting a friend in the leg was ordered Monday to serve four years in prison.
Desean William Newton, 30, entered Alford pleas to assault charges in both cases during an appearance before Washington County Circuit Court Judge Dana Moylan Wright. An Alford plea is not an admission of guilt, but an acknowledgment by a defendant that the state has sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction.
In exchange for the pleas, other charges, including attempted first- and second-degree murder in the shooting case, were dropped under an agreement outlined during the proceeding.
Wright accepted the agreement and noted that the shooting appeared to be accidental.
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Newton entered an Alford plea to first-degree assault in the shooting case and was sentenced by Wright to 15 years in prison with all of it suspended and to be served consecutive to the four-year term she imposed for his Alford plea to second-degree assault in the other case.
He was also placed on five year's supervised probation after his release and was given credit for the 380 days he has already been in custody.
Assistant State's Attorney Chris McCormack told Wright that had the shooting case gone to trial, the prosecution would have shown that on March 7, 2021, the Washington County Sheriff's Office responded to the 10000 block of Bridle Court south of Hagerstown for a report that a man had been shot. He said the victim was found with a gunshot wound to the leg and was uncooperative with police.
Deputies interviewed witnesses and learned that Newton and the victim were among a group of friends that went to Bridle Court from Mitzi's Gentleman's Club nearby in Funkstown after the intoxicated victim had become aggressive with club employees, McCormack said
Newton pulled a gun out while attempting to get the victim into a car to leave and the firearm discharged, according to McCormack.
"We don't believe the defendant was trying to kill his friend," McCormack said in explaining the appropriateness of Newton's Alford plea to first-degree assault.
In the other case, Newtown was accused of pushing a woman and strangling her with both hands at his Bridle Court home on Feb. 21, 2021. Newtown told police the woman was his girlfriend, but the woman told investigators that they had broken up earlier, according to the charging document filed against Newton.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Man charged with shooting friend, assaulting woman, gets four years
