Deshon Marquece Meadow
An Oak Ridge man accused of pointing a handgun at a group of people and pulling the trigger multiple times in April 2015 pleaded guilty on Thursday to a reduced charge of attempted voluntary manslaughter and six counts of aggravated assault, according to Anderson County court records.
Deshon Marquece Meadow, 22, was pointing a handgun at a group of people, including victim Traiquan Graves, when Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Tim Nguyen responded to a report of shots fired on Utica Circle on April 6, 2015, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court.
A witness said she saw Meadow point the handgun in their direction and pull the trigger multiple times, Nguyen said in the affidavits.
“The victim’s fear was evident when he backed up and took cover as the defendant tried to fire the weapon at him,” the affidavits said.
“Under Miranda, the defendant stated: ‘I couldn’t let him do me like that anymore. I went back to my house, got my gun, and pointed at them and told them to back off!'” the affidavits said.
The handgun was a Kel-Tec 9mm semi-automatic loaded with 10 live rounds of ammunition, Nguyen said in the affidavits. There was not a round in the chamber.
The incident was reported at about 11:23 p.m. Monday, April 6, 2015.
“Upon arrival, officers found Deshon Meadow on the premises waving a pistol at bystanders,” the City of Oak Ridge said in a press release at the time.
Meadow, who was then 20, was ordered by officers to lay the weapon on the ground. Once he surrendered the weapon, he was taken into custody, the release said.
Meadow had initially been charged with seven counts of aggravated assault. The charges against him were waived to the Anderson County Grand Jury from Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge on July 21, 2015.
The Anderson County Grand Jury indicted him on October 6, 2015, on one count of attempted first-degree murder and six counts of aggravated assault involving a deadly weapon.
As part of the plea agreement on Thursday, the attempted first-degree murder charge was reduced to attempted voluntary manslaughter.
The prosecution and the defense had agreed on a sentencing recommendation for Meadow, and they waived a presentence report and subsequent sentencing hearing, according to a sentencing waiver filed in Anderson County Criminal Court.
Meadow was sentenced to serve four years in the state penitentiary as a standard offender on the attempted voluntary manslaughter conviction, with 30 percent release eligibility and credit for time served, according to a criminal judgement entered by Anderson County Criminal Court Judge Donald R. Elledge. Meadow has been jailed at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton since his arrest on April 7, 2015, according to jail records.
Meadow received a five-year prison sentence on each of the aggravated assault charges, but those sentences were suspended and Meadow placed on intensive probation on those counts. The aggravated assault sentences are to run concurrently, or at the same time, but they are consecutive to the four-year sentence for the attempted voluntary manslaughter conviction.
Meadow cannot contact the six victims, and he must pay court costs.
Brennan Lenihan was the defense attorney for Meadow. Seventh Judicial District Assistant District Attorney Ryan M. Spitzer was the prosecutor.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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