[AlphaNews] A St. Paul man who was facing up to 17 years in prison for firing his gun at a car with children inside was sentenced last week to four months in jail.But he will serve that sentence either on house arrest or work release, depending upon eligibility, thanks to a plea deal and the sentencing decision of Ramsey County Judge Joy D. Bartscher. He will then do four years of probation.
Jacob Savon Gunn, 20, fired three bullets at a GMC Denali last August near the intersection of Payne and Minnehaha avenues in St. Paul, according to a criminal complaint. Inside were two children, a 4-year-old girl and a 1-year-old boy.
Gunn initially told police that an adult passenger who was also in the Denali had "pulled a gun" on him. He then claimed he was meeting up with someone to "buy something" and said he had text messages about the sale.
Gunn was charged with one count of using a dangerous weapon in a drive-by shooting and one count of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, both felonies that come with a combined maximum sentence of 17 years.
Guess the electric chair is to costly for Judge Joy D. Bartscher
Previously, Judge Bartscher served as Executive Director of the Neighborhood Justice Center.
Judge Bartscher’s sentencing decision was a "downward dispositional departure," which occurs "when the court stays execution of sentence when the guidelines call for execution of sentence."
The gun was sentenced to twenty years, with no chance of parole.