Tyrene Lewis was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections in 13th Judicial District Court.
He was charged with the August 31, 2021 shooting another young man in the shoulder. Lewis said he thought his victim was someone else he wanted to retaliate against after another shooting.
Lewis also received from Circuit Court Judge David Talley 10 years suspended imposition of sentencing for the battery and an additional 10 years SIS for terroristic threats.
SIS means if Lewis violates probation and faces revocation, the judge can order any sentence within the full range of punishment for the crime convicted.
Before sentencing, there was a short hearing. Magnolia Regional Medical Center orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Rudder testified Lewis’ gunshot victim, Dylan Wilson, could have been killed if the shot would have gone a half-inch differently than it did.
Rudder said he had to take Wilson from the emergency room to the operating room immediately upon his arrival.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ryan Phillips asked Rudder to categorize the gravity of the shot in Wilson’s right shoulder/bicep area.
“Certainly, it was limb threatening and it was potentially life threatening if the bullet would have been more forward it would have been in the chest cavity,” he said.
Rudder said he has seen Wilson twice since the surgery for two appointments, but he did not keep his last follow up appointment or do the physical therapy that was recommended.
Public Defense Attorney Daren Nelson’s argument for a lighter sentence for Lewis was that he was 17 at the time of the shooting and had no prior criminal history.
Talley said based on a mental evaluation and other factors that the case had not been sent to Juvenile Court. He also said Lewis wanted to be treated as an adult and that is why the matter stayed in District Court.
“I understand he does not want to do prison time which is understandable but his promising to stay on the right track is something I’ve heard before,” Talley said.
Talley asked Lewis what he did with the gun after the shooting, and he said he threw it in some bushes in a residential area. However, in the statement he gave to the police, Lewis said he sold the gun for $75.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Wilson admitted to Magnolia Police that the reason they were out that night was to purchase marijuana.
Wilson told them he and his friend Dreavian Sterling, “Dre,” were driving about a block from MRMC, near Garland Street.
Wilson stated that they stopped in the road to talk to another friend and shortly after that he heard a gunshot go through the glass. Wilson said that he did not know he was hit at first until he felt the blood running down his arm. Wilson said he did not know who shot him. According to the affidavit, Wilson told Magnolia Police Lt. Josh Miller that he and his friend were riding down the street when he saw four boys. Wilson recognized as being in the same school grade with him.
Wilson said as he began to pull away in the car, he heard a gunshot.
“Wilson stated that he saw the group laughing,” the affidavit reads.
Wilson told his friend, Sterling, that he had been hit. Although at first Sterling did not believe him, he drove Wilson to the hospital.
When the bullet was retrieved out of Wilson’s shoulder, police went to the hospital to get it and put it into evidence.
Before the recorder was turned off, Wilson admitted they had gone to the location to buy marijuana. When police talked to Sterling, he said he had asked the young men walking down the road if they had any cigarettes for sale. When they said no and he and Wilson were driving away, there was a shot.
Sterling recalled two of the males, one had his shirt off, and the other was cross eyed.
Officers took photographs of the car, and there was blood spatter across the dashboard and center console. Inside the car a bullet jacket was in the back seat. And there was a bullet hole through the back passenger window.
According to the affidavit, on September 1, 2021, Detective Bill Schaefer interviewed the suspected shooter and a witness.
Officers spoke to a juvenile witness and his mother, Shari Lewis, about the shooting. The juvenile witness said he and his brother, Tyrene Lewis, were walking on Garland Street near Jackson Street.
He said his brother, Tyrene Lewis, shot Wilson with his black and purple .380 pistol, and after the juvenile witness said he had sold the gun for $75.
At the Magnolia Police Department, Tyrene Lewis spoke with Schaefer, Miller, and Watson. Lewis said that he shot Wilson, but he meant to shoot Sterling as retaliation for shooting at him a few weeks earlier. Lewis then ended the interview.
A terroristic act is a Class B felony, and the sentence shall not be less than five years and no more than 20 years with a fine not exceeding $15,000.
Battery in the first degree is a Class B felony, and the sentence shall not be less than five years nor more than 20 years with a fine not exceeding $15,000.
