Man pleads guilty in car-prowler slaying

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Man pleads guilty in car-prowler slaying
2
Wed, 12-16-2009 - 12:04pm
Man pleads guilty in Northgate car-prowler slaying


Posted by Jennifer Sullivan




Douglas Sheets, a North Seattle man charged last week in connection with the 2008 shooting death of a man who prowled his car, pleaded guilty this morning to second-degree manslaughter. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors will recommend a nine-month sentence, to be served out of jail in work release.


Sheets' guilty plea comes about a week after he was charged in King County Superior Court. While the charge comes with a standard sentencing of nearly two years in prison, prosecutors will be recommending nine months in jail, an exceptional sentence downward.


Sheets, 20, was booked into King County Jail immediately after shooting Jhovany Hernandez with a rifle outside Sheets' Northgate apartment on Sept. 24, 2008. Sheets was released 16 hours later and remained free while police investigated.


Police didn't find a gun on Hernandez's body, but they did find a stereo face plate and screwdriver in his pocket, court documents say. Sheets was charged with second-degree manslaughter because he used more force than state law allows to recover property, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said.


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/theblotter/2009989393_man_who_fatally_shoots_car_pro.html?prmid=obnetwork


Some people are 'outraged' & don't believe he deserves to do any time.  I completely disagree.  The car prowler was not armed, he was not endangering anyone else's life.  This young man should have called 911.  Instead, he killed the guy over somethiing so stupid as a car stereo...sigh...


 


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Avatar for ddnlj
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 12-16-2009 - 1:21pm

We're kind of going backward in our thinking and level of societal civility. A lot of people are aligning themselves more with a Wild West, defend-the-farm-and-livestock-at-all-costs, way of thinking.


That

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Registered: 03-23-2003
Fri, 12-18-2009 - 11:04am

Very well said, thank you!


It's hard for me to believe that Mr. Sheets, at the age of 20 years old, had a gun, but not a cell phone to call the police with.


My thought's exactly.