State v. Mr. G (DMC No. 1402) – Felony Manslaughter Dangerous (with Gun) – Reduced to Negligent Homicide (with 6 years and 7 months of actual DOC) – Pinal County Superior Court (Case No. CR98-024998)
Mr. G was at a party with several friends when he went around to the side of the house to smoke a cigarette. While he was there he was joined with a couple other people, including the Victim, who he had only seen 5 to 6 times previously. They were all standing around joking and laughing while Mr. G was on his cell phone talking to his girlfriend. Eventually, he hung up, and he bummed a cigarette from another one of the gentlemen standing there. While they were standing and talking, they start horsing around. Mr. G’s gun discharged and struck the Victim in the neck, and killed him.
Mr. G and everybody else around all take off in different directions. Eventually Police arrive and they were told a multitude of false stories. One of those include Mr. G shooting the Victim because of a “broken cigarette.” Eventually, Mr. G was arrested and charged with Manslaughter. Shortly thereafter, DM Cantor was retained in order to defend him.
Through our own independent investigation, we were able to verify that the shooting was, indeed, accidental. We were also able to correct some of the false statements, and we were able to show that one of the so-called witnesses was not even present, and was now currently incarcerated for other crimes. Eventually, we secured an offer of Negligent Homicide, which included 8 years in Prison. Through our mitigation efforts, Mr. G was ultimately sentenced to the 8 years, of which he only had to serve 85.7%, plus a 3 month early “kick-out,” which totaled 6 years and 7 months of actual DOC. Originally, he was facing a potential 21 years in Prison.