A man accused of trying to kill another man in a drive-by shooting in Cheyenne refused Tuesday to go to court, so jail deputies decided not to force him.
Demetrius Coletti, 45, was scheduled to appear in Cheyenne Circuit Court on Tuesday morning to have his bond and other matters established in his attempted first-degree murder case the Laramie County District Attorney’s Office has filed against him.
The case stems from Friday evening, when Coletti was implicated as the man who shot into another man’s truck, engaged police in a car chase and was arrested when a wheel fell off his Chevy Tahoe, court documents say.
Not going to court Tuesday was simply Coletti’s choice, Laramie County Undersheriff Chance Walkama told Cowboy State Daily in a Tuesday interview.
“He said he wasn’t feeling well,” Walkama said. “He just all-out refused and didn’t want to come out of his cell. And to avoid having a conflict with him and having to use force to get him to a (virtual court access) monitor, we decided to have him forego today.”
Coletti is now scheduled to appear in court Thursday.
If he refuses again on that day, jail deputies may make special arrangements, such as bringing a video monitor to the man’s jail cell, Walkama added.
A 'Feeling'
An evidentiary affidavit filed in Coletti’s case says Cheyenne Police Department Officer Travis Wright responded to a call for service regarding shots fired in town. The officer discovered a black Isuzu truck with a bullet-sized hole in the rear window and a bullet hole through an aftermarket heater hung from the truck’s ceiling.
The interior rear-view mirror was shattered; glass littered the bench seat, and there was no exit hole in the vehicle, Wright wrote in the affidavit.
A man, 46-year-old Richard Martinez, had been sitting in the truck when the shot hit, the document says.
Martinez told police that he was sitting in his truck, parked on his property, when he heard a vehicle pull past his house. He then watched it stop and reverse until it was in front of his driveway. He peeked his head out the driver’s side door and looked west toward Jefferson Road and saw what he described as a silver Suburban with a light shining in one of its windows, the affidavit says.
A “feeling” overcame him, and he ducked back into his vehicle. He heard a gunshot and felt glass falling around him, Martinez told police. When he looked up, he saw a bullet hole in the rear window, just above his head, the document says.
The Tahoe
Another Cheyenne Police Department officer spoke to others who know Coletti, and they indicated he drives a 2012 Chevy Tahoe.
Coletti’s daughter recalled that at 12:33 p.m. that day, Coletti called to say he was sorry, he loved her and he wanted to tell her so before he did “this,” the affidavit says.
Another woman recalled watching Coletti arm himself with what looked like a pistol that day, but he said it was a pellet gun, says the document.
Crash
A Laramie County Sheriff’s Deputy recognized the Tahoe from the description aired on the radio, near the intersection of College Drive and Walterscheid Boulevard, the Cheyenne Police Department said in a statement released Saturday. The deputy tried to conduct a traffic stop but Coletti sped away, and deputies chased him, the statement says.
The statement also says Coletti ran a red light and crashed into a car that was driving through the intersection of West Lincolnway and Central Avenue.
The people in that vehicle didn’t report serious injuries and refused medical care, the department wrote.
When a tire fell off the Tahoe, it came to a stop and officers arrested Coletti.
In the SUV, officers found a .45-caliber casing on the back passenger floor, plus an empty Springfield XD pistol case for a .45-caliber pistol, the affidavit alleges.
On a phone call from jail, Coletti told a woman that he did try to kill Martinez because Martinez had “a laser pointed” at Coletti, says the document.
Coletti faces one count of attempted first-degree murder, which is punishable by life in prison or the death penalty in Wyoming. He’s also charged with eluding (punishable by up to six months in jail and $750 in fines) and failing to stop after a crash (up to $200 in fines).
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
