A person with known gang affiliations is arrested because his fingerprints are on a gun recovered nearby a drive by shooting. There are other partial prints on the gun but there older and smudged. The gun was reported stolen 8 years ago by someone in a neighboring town. The drive by caused some property damage to the store front and flying brick fragments wounded a neighbor's dog. Charges of 2 counts of assault with a deadly weapon regarding the store owner and a customer who was present have been filed along with various gun possession and other firearms related charges. The facts of case are thin. The defendant has no connections to the original gun theft. He isn't placed at the scene by a credible witness or other corroborating circumstantial evidence. Neither the car nor the driver have been located although a description of the driver has been given to police. The description matches another known gang member but he can't be found after 6 weeks of police work. The gun was found 9 days after the shooting and matched to bullets recovered.
At this point the prosecutor has to make a decision. It's unclear who among those present, the dog walker, store owner or customer were the actual target. None of them were injured. None has a connection to person charged. Violence isn't to be tolerate. If the case goes to trial, the guy may be found not guilty of just about everything. Should the prosecutor offer a deal of 18 months at county for a lesser charge and drop the gun charges which carry mandated minimums? It's a tough decision between a certain year and a half in the hand verses maybe 10 years in the bush, so to speak.
For the plea deal the prosecutor gets a win, the banger is off the street and points are scored with the D.A. who's up for reelection within the year.
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