The trial begins for an Allen County man charged with a 2020 shooting that happened at his home.
Michael Sheets is facing a felonious assault charge. During opening statements, prosecutors say the day before Easter in 2020, Sheets, his daughter, and her boyfriend Bradley Hutton were in the garage when an argument broke out after a day of drinking, which ended up with Hutton getting shot in the leg. Hutton took the stand and says that Sheets got the gun during the verbal argument.
“A small argument still continued, I took my eyes off Mike and looked over towards Bailey. When I turned and looked away and that’s when my ears started ringing,” says Hutton. “I seen his arm like this and I followed his arm and I seen the gun. I looked down, at first, I couldn’t see blood or a hole in the jeans or anything. Then I stepped, I thought his shot missed me, so my goal was to get the gun away from him.”
“All it is, is a verbal argument until the defendant decided to introduce a gun to them, and that at that moment is when the scenario changed,” says Joe Everhart, Allen County Assistant Prosecutor.
But Sheets' attorney says that his client was defending himself from Hutton, who he asked to leave multiple times before he fired the shot.
“He is going to tell you how he feared for his life, and he didn’t want to hurt Bradley. But he wanted this intruder out of his house, and he shot him in the leg. After shooting him, Bradley still did not leave, it was probably 5, 10 minutes later before Bradley decide to leave the house,” says Thomas Lucente Defense attorney.
Sheets is expected to take the stand on Wednesday when his trial resumes.
