Man sentenced to prison for firing shotgun into house

Victims sought probation and treatment for defendant

June 29, 2010|By DON AINES

HAGERSTOWN -- The victims sought probation and treatment for Ronald E. Fauble, but Washington County Circuit Judge W. Kennedy Boone III sentenced him Tuesday to prison for firing a shotgun into a woman's house.

"The Division of Corrections is where you're going to go," Boone told Fauble before handing down a 15-year sentence with 11 years suspended.

"I think the defendant is very fortunate in this case that the victims have come forward and asked for a great deal of leniency," Boone said of Fauble's girlfriend, Katie Barton, and her mother, Betty Lloyd.

Fauble, 29, of 12249 Wild Rose Lane in Hagerstown, on June 14 entered an Alford plea to a charge of first-degree assault. In exchange for the plea, the state agreed to dismiss another charge of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault, and single counts of reckless endangerment and malicious destruction of property. Under an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt, but acknowledges the state has enough evidence to gain a conviction.

Fauble fired a 12-gauge shotgun from the passenger seat of a car into the Hagerstown-area home of Barton and Lloyd, according to the statement of probable cause filed by the Washington County Sheriff's Office. Police allege the vehicle was driven by Nicholas P. Purcell, 30, of 900 View St., according to records.

Fauble called the house and made threats before the shooting, the statement said. He called again once authorities arrived and spoke with a deputy on the phone, records show.

"I'm coming over there and I (am) going to get them and you're not taking me to jail," Fauble told the deputy, the statement said. Fauble and Purcell were stopped and taken into custody a few minutes later, records show.

"Ronnie is a good, hard-working man. He's very kind-hearted," Barton told Boone. She said he needed supervised probation and treatment for alcohol abuse.

"I do know Ronnie is a good guy ... The alcohol and the drugs totally get the best of him," Lloyd told Boone.

At the time of the plea agreement, the state asked for a cap of five years in prison.

Purcell was also in court June 14, but he declined an offer from the state to plead to a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree assault. Purcell said at the time he did not want to go to jail for something he did not do and that he had no idea what Fauble was going to do that day.

Boone scheduled Purcell's trial for Aug. 5.

|

|

|