RENO COUNTY— A Kansas City man who was part of a shooting that injured two people near the Hutchinson Walmart will spend a little more than a year in prison.
Deante Watley-Jones, 22, pleaded to two counts of aggravated assault in the shooting of Darin Rodriguez Nov. 9, 2019, during a confrontation between occupants of two vehicles.
Watley-Jones could have received a much longer sentence, but the state and defense agreed to the plea on a less-severe charge. The defense asked for probation in the case, but Judge Joe McCarville noted that he could not find enough reason to support the defendant's claim of self-defense.
According to police, the argument started near the intersection of Ring Road and 17th Avenue. When Rodriguez got out of the vehicle, he was allegedly shot by Jones, who was sitting in the back seat of the vehicle. The bullet then went through the open door of the victim's car, ricocheted off the interior, and grazed the driver of the suspect's car, 74-year-old Paula Thomas.
Both victims were taken to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center where they were treated and released