A southside man was sentenced to three years in prison after police said he shot another man in the face.
Lewis R. Grimes, 20, pleaded guilty to a charge of battery with a deadly weapon.
Police said Grimes went to a Greenwood home near County Line Road and U.S. 31 to purchase marijuana from another man Dec. 6. He got in an argument with the man, pulled out a gun and shot him in the face. The bullet went through the man’s lip, broke several teeth, exited out of his neck and struck him in the shoulder.
Grimes, 1607 N. Rural St., Indianapolis, is a convicted felon and was on house arrest in Marion County when he went to buy the drugs, police said.
The three-year sentence is slightly more serious for the type of charge and also because Grimes will serve all of his time in prison, deputy prosecutor Daylon Welliver said. For that type of charge, the typical sentence is two years, and often a person will get some time on probation, Welliver said.
Grimes has additional charges in Marion County, and any prison time he receives if convicted would be added on top of his sentence, Welliver said.
Grimes accepted responsibility for the crime and chose not to fight the charge, but the seriousness of the incident and his criminal history warranted a longer term, Welliver said.
“The fact that we were able to get a conviction on the charge as charged and a prison sentence out of it is certainly a good thing.
“At least for that amount of time in the DOC, he won’t be shooting anybody, or buying drugs or tearing up the jail,” Welliver said.
Under the state’s recently revised criminal code, Grimes will serve at least 75 percent of his three-year sentence. He could have some time cut off his sentence if he behaves, but he hasn’t so far, officials said.
Grimes had been ripping up his cell in the Johnson County jail, Welliver said.
Because of his behavior issues, the county sent him to the prison to be held while waiting for his case to be resolved, jail commander Maj. Duane Burgess said. He was in Franklin for court last week and was heading back to prison at the end of the day, Burgess said.
During the December drug deal, Grimes went to a Greenwood house around 2 a.m. with two women and another man, according to a police report.
The women told police that Grimes was planning to buy marijuana, but got into an argument while one of the women went to get money from the car, the report said. Grimes pulled out a small silver handgun and fired a single shot that hit the other man in the face.
The other man was not charged with any crime, and Welliver didn’t have any information about his condition since being shot.
Police and U.S. Marshals went to Grime’s home shortly after the shooting and arrested him. He told police at the time that he had been asleep at home since 1 a.m.
