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Shooter gets 15 years for gun charge
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Shooter gets 15 years for gun charge
FELON WITH FIREARM: One man says Lysiak Bell saved his life by shooting Salthel Capers to death.
DAVID ANGIER
The News Herald
Lysiak Bell was called a hero and a killer on Tuesday; a role model and a convicted felon.
The descriptions condensed the wide difference in opinion over his actions in June 1999 when he shot another man to death.
Bell went before Circuit Judge Dedee Costello on Tuesday for sentencing. It wasn't for murder, but for possessing the gun that killed Salthel Capers, 20, in a Springfield apartment. Bell, 29, was convicted last week of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Costello sentenced him to 15 years in prison, the maximum for that crime.
Jurors rejected Bell's argument that he had no other choice but to use a gun to defend himself from Capers. Grand jurors, on the other hand, declined to indict Bell for murder last year.
"I have to assume the grand jurors felt he was acting in self-defense," Costello said during Bell's sentencing.
Bell went to his stepsister's apartment with two other people the morning of June 27, 1999. They were in the bedroom when Capers entered the residence, armed with at least one gun.
When Capers went into the bedroom, one of Bell's friends, Herve Jordan, dropped to the floor while others scattered to a bathroom and closet.
Shots were fired and Capers died on the scene. One witness said that Bell had a 9 mm handgun prior to the shooting, but Jordan said Capers brought that weapon with him. It was determined that Capers died from bullets fired by that gun.
Jordan said Tuesday that Bell saved his life.
"If he didn't do what he did, I wouldn't be standing here," Jordan said. "I just want to thank him."
Capers' uncle, Jon Taylor, said Jordan lied to investigators the morning of the shooting and lied again Tuesday.
"They were all in cahoots," Taylor said after the sentencing. "Their intention was to kill him when he walked into that apartment. They knew what they were doing."
Taylor said he didn't understand why Bell and his friends didn't call police if they thought there was going to be trouble.
"They had plenty of time," he said. "Why did they have to take a life?"
Taylor said that the sentence would enable Capers' family to find closure.
"We can go on with our lives," he said.
Bell's girlfriend said after court that Bell had always told her children if they broke the law it would catch up to them. She said he remains a role model to them, because they can now see that his words rang true.
Costello said she was concerned about the two years that Bell eluded police following the shooting. He was arrested in Miami last year and returned to Bay County to stand trial.
She said she couldn't order Bell to say where he was during that time, and he didn't offer her any information.
"I ran for two years because I was scared," Bell said. "I didn't commit a single crime after this (shooting). It wasn't like I've been a terror on the streets."
He said he trusted the legal system to help him, but instead it hurt him. Bell blamed prosecutor Bill Lewis for having a personal grudge against him.
"I'm the one that's looked at as the bad person," Bell said.
Bell's record - 18 prior convictions in Dade County, all from a single day of crime - was also significant to Costello. Bell was convicted of armed robbery, burglary and trafficking stolen property, among other things.
But what it all boiled down to was whether or not Bell could have avoided the incident with Capers.
"It's a shame you didn't just leave," Costello said to Bell. "You didn't need to be there with that gun."
The writer can be contacted at dangier@pcnh.com
http://www.newsherald.com/articles/2002/04/17/lo041702c.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
FELON WITH FIREARM: One man says Lysiak Bell saved his life by shooting Salthel Capers to death.
DAVID ANGIER
The News Herald
Lysiak Bell was called a hero and a killer on Tuesday; a role model and a convicted felon.
The descriptions condensed the wide difference in opinion over his actions in June 1999 when he shot another man to death.
Bell went before Circuit Judge Dedee Costello on Tuesday for sentencing. It wasn't for murder, but for possessing the gun that killed Salthel Capers, 20, in a Springfield apartment. Bell, 29, was convicted last week of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Costello sentenced him to 15 years in prison, the maximum for that crime.
Jurors rejected Bell's argument that he had no other choice but to use a gun to defend himself from Capers. Grand jurors, on the other hand, declined to indict Bell for murder last year.
"I have to assume the grand jurors felt he was acting in self-defense," Costello said during Bell's sentencing.
Bell went to his stepsister's apartment with two other people the morning of June 27, 1999. They were in the bedroom when Capers entered the residence, armed with at least one gun.
When Capers went into the bedroom, one of Bell's friends, Herve Jordan, dropped to the floor while others scattered to a bathroom and closet.
Shots were fired and Capers died on the scene. One witness said that Bell had a 9 mm handgun prior to the shooting, but Jordan said Capers brought that weapon with him. It was determined that Capers died from bullets fired by that gun.
Jordan said Tuesday that Bell saved his life.
"If he didn't do what he did, I wouldn't be standing here," Jordan said. "I just want to thank him."
Capers' uncle, Jon Taylor, said Jordan lied to investigators the morning of the shooting and lied again Tuesday.
"They were all in cahoots," Taylor said after the sentencing. "Their intention was to kill him when he walked into that apartment. They knew what they were doing."
Taylor said he didn't understand why Bell and his friends didn't call police if they thought there was going to be trouble.
"They had plenty of time," he said. "Why did they have to take a life?"
Taylor said that the sentence would enable Capers' family to find closure.
"We can go on with our lives," he said.
Bell's girlfriend said after court that Bell had always told her children if they broke the law it would catch up to them. She said he remains a role model to them, because they can now see that his words rang true.
Costello said she was concerned about the two years that Bell eluded police following the shooting. He was arrested in Miami last year and returned to Bay County to stand trial.
She said she couldn't order Bell to say where he was during that time, and he didn't offer her any information.
"I ran for two years because I was scared," Bell said. "I didn't commit a single crime after this (shooting). It wasn't like I've been a terror on the streets."
He said he trusted the legal system to help him, but instead it hurt him. Bell blamed prosecutor Bill Lewis for having a personal grudge against him.
"I'm the one that's looked at as the bad person," Bell said.
Bell's record - 18 prior convictions in Dade County, all from a single day of crime - was also significant to Costello. Bell was convicted of armed robbery, burglary and trafficking stolen property, among other things.
But what it all boiled down to was whether or not Bell could have avoided the incident with Capers.
"It's a shame you didn't just leave," Costello said to Bell. "You didn't need to be there with that gun."
The writer can be contacted at dangier@pcnh.com
http://www.newsherald.com/articles/2002/04/17/lo041702c.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878