AUBURN — A Lewiston man pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony charge related to shooting a man in the leg in downtown Lewiston in June.
Jordan Waterman, 27, of 206 Park St. was sentenced to 12 years in prison, with all but four years suspended, plus four years of probation.
He had been scheduled for trial next week on a charge of elevated aggravated assault, which is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
Less than a week before his trial was expected to start, Waterman pleaded guilty to that charge at a hearing at which he had been scheduled to argue that his statements to authorities be struck from trial.
Prosecutors had filed a motion arguing they should be allowed to present to the jury statements made to police by a witness who later said he had no recollections of the events nor conversations with law enforcement about them. That motion also was expected to be argued Thursday.
Assistant District Attorney Katherine Bozeman said the shooting victim had moved out of Maine and did not intend to return to this state nor to cooperate with prosecutors on the case.
Authorities in the state to which the victim had moved were unable to locate him to serve him with a subpoena to appear at trial. Also, a key juvenile witness for the prosecution who had identified Waterman as the shooter recanted his earlier statements to authorities.
Prosecutors had prepared to show by way of a letter and jail phone calls that Waterman had tampered with that witness.
According to an affidavit, police received a 911 call at 4:17 a.m. June 17 reporting a fight at the corner of Bartlett and Walnut streets. Officers checked that area but found no one.
Half an hour later, a tenant at a Pierce Street apartment reported to police that he’d been shot in the leg. When police arrived, they had the man taken to a local hospital to be treated for a gunshot wound to his right leg.
According to the affidavit, the victim told police “he had been shot by ‘Jordan Nieves,’” a name police knew to be an alias of Jordan Waterman.
The shooting victim, Jeffrey Locklear, 26, told police that Waterman and another man had confronted him on Horton Street, where Waterman had pulled a gun from his waistband and pointed it at Locklear. As Locklear backed away, Waterman and the other man followed him, catching up with him at the corner of Bartlett and Pine streets.
According to police, the city’s street surveillance system captured images of Locklear and this third individual fighting. In the image, the third man could be seen trying to hit and kick Locklear.
As Locklear walked away, the video shows a person, later identified by Locklear and the third individual as Waterman, leaning up against a building, apparently taking aim, then firing a single shot.
Afterward, the person who shot the gun can be seen on camera running up Pine Street and turning right on Howe Street, according to the affidavit.
The third man could be seen running up Pine Street and jumping into a car at the corner of Horton Street.
Hospital records indicate a bullet went through Locklear’s leg, breaking his lower leg, according to the affidavit.
A .45-caliber casing was found about 10 feet from where Waterman is seen on camera firing the shot, according to the affidavit.
Three related felony charges against Waterman — criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, aggravated assault and reckless conduct — were dismissed Thursday by prosecutors in exchange for his plea to the more serious charge.
After his release from prison Waterman must not have any firearms or dangerous weapons, for which he can be searched at random. He must undergo psychological counseling and treatment and have no contact with the victim and two others named in court papers.
Waterman also pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony charge of tampering with a witness for which he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison to be served at the same time as his four-year sentence.
cwilliams@sunjournal.com
Jordan Waterman appears in 8th District Court in Lewiston in June on charges related to a shooting in downtown Lewiston. (Sun Journal file photo)
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