Monett man receives probation in stolen gun assault case
Oct. 20—MOUNT VERNON, Mo. — A 30-year-old Monett man accused of pointing a stolen gun at another man and leaving the scene of an accident was granted probation when he pleaded guilty to two of the four charges he was facing.
Korry J. Melby pleaded guilty Oct. 12 in Lawrence County Circuit Court to counts of first-degree assault and receiving stolen property in a plea deal dismissing related counts of armed criminal action and leaving the scene of an accident.
Judge David Cole assessed Melby seven years on the assault count and five years on the stolen property count, with execution of the sentences suspended and the defendant placed on supervised probation for five years.
The convictions stem from an incident in the early morning of July 24, 2020, on East Nellie Street in Monett. Officers were called to the 100 block of the street after a driver struck a parked car and left the scene.
Witnesses told police that a car had been racing down the dead-end street, and they had yelled at the driver to slow down. The car returned moments later and struck a parked car.
One of the witnesses moved his vehicle into the roadway to prevent the driver from leaving the scene before police arrived and then approached the driver, who pulled a gun on him. The witness grabbed the gun away from him and the driver sped off, according to a probable-cause affidavit.
Police matched the serial number of the gun to one that had just been reported stolen in a burglary and were able to identify Melby as the fleeing driver through video surveillance footage, according to the affidavit.
