Cape man pleads guilty, sentenced in manslaughter case stemming from struggle over gun

A Cape Girardeau man pleaded guilty in April to a 2016 fatal shooting and was sentenced to 17 years in prison, according to circuit court records.

Richard L. Jenkins, 32, entered a guilty plea in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court to involuntary manslaughter, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.

Jenkins is one of two men charged with the Sept. 28, 2016, shooting death of Brent Johnson, 30, of Cape Girardeau.

Prosecutors said Jenkins and Laterrius M. Triplett of Cape Girardeau shot Johnson while struggling over a gun. During interviews with investigators, Triplett and Jenkins admitted struggling over the gun when it was fired, but each man blamed the other for firing it, Cape Girardeau police said.

Jenkins said in his written guilty-plea petition to the court he �recklessly caused the death of another by wrestling over a gun and illegally possessed firearm.� He said he entered the guilty plea as part of a plea agreement.

According to a probable-cause statement filed by Sgt. Jeff Bonham of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, several people were at a party at 1213 S. Ellis St. when Triplett and another man, Darieth Nunley, got into a fight outside the home.

When the fight ended, Nunley left the immediate area, but Triplett �felt Nunley had gotten the best of him� and was still angry, Bonham wrote.

Johnson and Jenkins � who was carrying a loaded handgun � walked out of 1213 S. Ellis St. to a spot near the street, where Triplett attempted to take Jenkins� weapon with the intent of �going after Nunley in retaliation for the physical fight,� Bonham wrote.

As Triplett and Jenkins struggled over the gun, it went off, striking Johnson in the chest, Bonham wrote.

Judge Benjamin Lewis sentenced Jenkins to 15 years on the manslaughter charge, 17 years for armed criminal action and seven years for unlawful possession of a firearm, with the sentences to run concurrently.

Jenkins entered the plea April 9 and was sentenced the same day, but the court action was not reported in online court records until late last week.

The case against Triplett, who faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action, is scheduled for trial in July in circuit court in Jackson.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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