The young man, apparently so upset at being banned from a mall and told he was too young to buy marijuana products that he shot two shopkeepers and a dog, is getting the same treatment under a judge that another judge rejected in March.
Jalontae Truriel Percer pleaded guilty Friday to several charges, including two counts of unlawful battery, and will serve no more than six years in prison. Judge Cheryl Higgins accepted the plea deal.
The court will do so, if it finds it appropriate, Higgins said in Albemarle County Circuit Court.
Prosecutor Susan Baumgartner told the Daily Progress that the deal Higgins accepted was the same as the one previously rejected. And as revealed in court Friday, the deal provides so much suspended time that the maximum active sentence would be six years instead of the statutory maximum of 14 years.
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We worked hard with the victims to come up with an offer that we thought was appropriate, Baumgartner told the Progress.
Previous court testimony indicates that Percer, his brother and two other men were asked on Sept. 13 to leave the Supreme Green store in Charlottesville’s Fashion Square mall, which sells products containing THC, a hallucinogenic compound. At a preliminary hearing, the manager testified that he informed the group that their unruly behavior meant they would no longer be welcome at the mall.
Moments later, after the store closed for the evening and after another encounter in the food court, Percer unleashed a volley of bullets as the two shopkeepers drove past a mall exit.
Store owner and manager Jerome Henry was hit by multiple bullets, as was employee Eliazar Prieto. Henry's puppy, Coco, was also injured. A police detective found the vehicle riddled with bullets, including eight 9mm shell casings nearby.
The day after the shooting, Albemarle detectives, acting on a search warrant, raided Percer's apartment in the Brookdale complex off Old Lynchburg Road. There, in addition to two cell phones, clothing, backpacks and 2 to 3 ounces of marijuana, they seized a 9 mm Taurus pistol, a silencer and Percer himself.
On Friday, dressed in the striped jumpsuit of the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail, where he has been held since his arrest, Percer politely answered a series of questions from the judge.
Yes, your honour, no, your honour, and yes, ma'am, he said to Higgins' questions.
“I have one more comment,” said the judge, sitting upright in her chair after setting the official date for the sentencing.
The court would be interested in knowing how this defendant got here, Higgins said, noting that there were no prior felony convictions for Percer, now 20.
“He spoke eloquently and calmly,” Higgins continued. “How could he have walked into a mall with a gun and shot two people?
Percer's attorney, Thomas Wilson, may attempt to answer that question at sentencing on Aug. 22, but Wilson has requested only 30 minutes for that hearing, a length that won't allow for much testimony and other evidence.
Although the previous judge gave no official reason for denying the motion in March, it was Claude Worrell, a former prosecutor who has been a vocal critic of the proliferation of guns in society. In many cases, Worrell said, the presence of guns tends to turn disagreements that might have ended in fistfights or arguments into life-changing events.
Baumgartner told Worrell in March that she couldn't guarantee a jury would find Percer maliciously shot the shopkeepers, so she agreed to reduce the original charge from malicious wounding to unlawful wounding in the case.
“I don’t think Judge Worrell will mind that his colleague accepted it,” said Scott Goodman, a longtime criminal defense attorney in Charlottesville. “Every judge has his own philosophy about what he considers acceptable.”
The agreement limits Percer's existing sentence on the two unlawful wounding counts to three years, accepts the three-year statutory minimum on the firearm charge and suspends the 12-month animal cruelty charge for the injuries to Coco the dog. The agreement drops a second count of assault and battery with a firearm, awards two years of probation and mandates mental health counseling for Percer.
The judges are aware of the considerable effort both sides have made to reach an agreement and are confident that both sides are acting in good faith in presenting the court with a solution they believe is justified, Goodman said. The judges also like to move the case forward.
For the employee shot twice in the arm and once in the abdomen, moving on and not focusing on the case is the order of the day, Prieto told the Daily Progress on Friday.
I don't have much of an opinion on this, Prieto. I just want to put this whole situation behind me. I know the owner does too.
Asked about Coco, Prieto reports that the dog now rarely comes to the store and seems afraid of people.
