Man sentenced for chasing, shooting gun near insurance inspector

Judge Benjamin Lewis on Monday sentenced a Jackson man to the 120-day Department of Corrections treatment program for unlawful use of a weapon.

Matthew Thomas Copen, 39, originally was charged with unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action.

Copen chased an insurance inspector off his property at the intersection of Highway 177 and U.S. 61, according to a probable-cause statement filed by Cape Girardeau County sheriff’s deputy Andrew Siebert.

Copen then drove up behind the insurance inspector and shot a gun in the air in attempt to scare the inspector, Siebert wrote.

Lewis said if Copen fails the treatment program or violates his subsequent probation, he will serve 15 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

“It’s one thing to chase somebody out of your house,” Lewis said. “You chased him down the street firing a weapon in your vehicle. People who fire a weapon during a crime deserve to be punished.”

Copen’s lawyer, Gordon Glaus, said Copen had interpreted the Castle doctrine poorly and would make a formal apology to the victim.

“He thought there was an intruder, and he took it too far,” Glaus said.

bkleine@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address: 100 Court St., Jackson, MO