CASPER — A 19-year-old Cheyenne man facing five felonies accused of a violent rampage that included pistol-whipping one person, threatening others with a gun and shooting at a car in a central Casper neighborhood pleaded guilty to two of the charges Thursday in Natrona County District Court.
A plea deal between Jeremy David Lakey’s attorney Dylan Rosalez and Natrona County Assistant District Attorney Jeff Meyer resulted in Judge Catherine Wilking dropping three charges.
But getting to the plea deal in court took some extra effort and time.
Lakey appeared in an orange jail jumpsuit and shackles beside Rosalez and listened to Judge Wilking explain the plea deal that would involve his pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated assault and battery in exchange for the prosecution dropping a third aggravated assault and battery charge, as well as property destruction and defacement, and possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent charges.
As Wilking questioned Lakey on the first charge involving pistol whipping a 21-year-old with a 9 mm Glock pistol, Lakey admitted to the judge that,“I hit him on the side of the face.”
“Was that with a pistol?” The judge asked.
“Yes, your honor,” Lakey said.
Guilty, But Not Really
In pleading guilty to the other charge threatening to use a drawn deadly weapon, Lakey told the court that he had the gun on his hip, but that two of the victims had reached for it and he backed away and pulled it out.
At that point, the judge asked Rosalez to speak with his client, which he did. Then after huddling with the prosecutor, the agreed Lakey would instead enter an Alford plea. That means he maintains his innocence but pleads guilty.
Judge Wilking then explained to Lakey that he was “having difficulty” providing the information for his guilt and asked him again if he was OK with Meyer stating the reasons for his guilt and using the police arrest affidavit for that information.
“Instead of relying on what you are saying I am going to relay on the state,” she said.
Lakey told the judge he agreed with that.
Meyer told the court that evidence showed that Lakey was in possession of the weapon, “kind of confronted” victims, intended to strike someone, and that sometime during the entire incident a shot “was fired.”
The judge then asked both Rosalez and Lakey if there was a reason she should not accept his guilty plea to the second count. Both in turn replied, “No, your honor.”
Boot Camp OK
“The state would not object if you were to attend the youth offender program which used to be called the Boot Camp program,” she told Lakey.
Both aggravated assault and battery charges carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison, and the recommendation is for the sentences to run concurrently.
The initial charges against Lakey followed a night of drinking.
After pistol whipping the 21-year-old, Lakey later shot at a vehicle withthree friends of the 21-year-old while in the area of 14th Street and Country Club Road in Casper in the early morning hours of Aug. 31, according to a police affidavit.
Police pulled a 9 mm bullet from the driver’s side pillar of a victim’s vehicle and found a spent casing and two live rounds at the location.
Lakey’s $100,000 cash bond was continued.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
