An Ozark County resident who pleaded guilty in February to felony charges of shooting at a building and third-degree assault in Ozark County has had his charges and sentence altered, according to court records.
Samuel J. Deatherage Jr., 22, Tecumseh, withdrew his guilty plea on April 3 before 44th Judicial Circuit Court Judge R. Craig Carter but agreed to plead guilty to amended charges of second-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon by exhibiting.
Deatherage may now avoid incarceration as long as he successfully completes a 120-day rehabilitative requirement and probation; otherwise he faces a possible seven-year sentence on the assault charge and a consecutive three-year sentence on the weapon charge.
The charges are related to an Aug. 30 incident when Deatherage reportedly fired 10 to 15 rounds from a Draco AK-47 variant pistol at seven victims, including three children, after becoming heavily intoxicated and making threats.
He was originally charged with six felonies: a count each of first-degree assault, armed criminal action and discharging or shooting a firearm at another person, and three counts each of first-degree child endangerment.
The incident resulted in all of the victims running in fear of their lives, according to a probable cause statement, and one of the bullets passed through the back and front windows of a pickup truck, grazing a family member in the head.
On Feb. 5, court records show, Deatherage pleaded guilty to a Howell County charge of felony first-degree harassment and sentenced to four years by 37th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Steven Privette with the stipulations that Deatherage enter the 120 day program and obtain a general education diploma (GED). The sentence is to run concurrently with the sentence in the Ozark County case and another Howell County case where he pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a weapon by exhibiting and was handed the same sentence and requirements by Privette.
