GOLDEN, Colo. (Court TV) — A former city councilman in Colorado was spared prison after a jury found him guilty of lesser charges following an incident in which he shot a teenager in the face.
Brent Metz (Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office)
Brent Metz, 40, had been charged with second-degree assault. Following a five-day trial, a jury found Metz guilty of illegal reckless discharge of a firearm and third-degree negligent assault; he was acquitted of second-degree assault and two counts of menacing.
Prosecutors had claimed that Metz shot then-17-year-old Jack Howard in the face while Howard was with a 15-year-old friend looking for a place to take photos. When the teens found a lake near Metz’s property, they jumped a fence to ask the property’s owner for permission to use the area as a photo backdrop.
Unsuccessful in finding anyone to ask for permission, the teens were sitting in a parked car — not on Metz’s property — when he approached and fired into the vehicle, hitting Howard in the face. Prosecutors said Metz had been watching the two on his surveillance cameras and approached them with the intention of attacking them. Metz’s defense, meanwhile, argued that he had no intention of assaulting the teenagers, but merely wanted to ask what they were doing. Metz claimed that the gun he was holding went off “without his attention, and without his command,” his attorney said in opening statements at his trial.
Immediately following the verdict, Metz was taken into custody; he faced a potential sentence of up to three years in prison. At his sentencing on Tuesday, Deputy District Attorney Chris Johnson asked Judge Russell Klein to sentence the defendant to prison, saying, “There’s an extraordinary responsibility of gun ownership. And what did he do with that responsibility? He brought a gun with a bullet in the chamber to a situation that did not call for it. Period.”
Howard’s mother spoke to the court, noting that Metz never apologized to her son, and has “never shown a moment of reflection for what he did. … People like Mr. Metz — reckless, careless, and unwilling to admit fault — are the reason responsible gun owners face scrutiny.”
In a letter shared with the court, Howard said that he still has nightmares and trauma while living with the “recurring memory” of Metz approaching him that day.
Klein sentenced Metz to four years of probation, 90 days of work release and 120 hours of useful public service. As a result of his conviction, Metz is no longer legally allowed to own or possess firearms.
“We appreciate the Court weighing all the factors, including how to account for someone who has never been involved in the system, and we further share the Court’s concern that no good reason was ever offered for why Mr. Metz unholstered his firearm that day,” Colorado First Judicial District District Attorney Alexis King said in a statement after the sentencing. “Ultimately, he was found to be negligent and reckless, and he has caused a lifetime of trauma for those who suffered from his poor decision-making.”
