Judge Closes Hearing for Young Casper Man Charged in Shooting
A Natrona County District Court judge on Friday closed a hearing for a young man charged as an adult in a drive-by shooting of a house because he wanted his case returned to juvenile court.
Judge Kerri Johnson said her understanding of the law about juveniles charged with crimes required her to close the hearing for Isaiah Roman White except for those in his family.
White's public defender Joseph Cole and Assistant District Attorney Ana Bell said they agreed.
It was not clear why White, who was still charged as an adult, would be considered a juvenile before the hearing began.
Two reporters were asked to leave the courtroom.
White, who was born in 2002, is charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, conspiracy to commit felony property destruction, and possession of a firearm with unlawful intent. He could face up to 25 years behind bars if convicted of all three counts.
He and four others allegedly planned to use three guns, provided by 25-year-old Matthew Nietert, to "shoot up" a house in Paradise Valley on May 19 after a fight earlier that day.
Besides White, two other teens were charged as adults.
Isaiah Dobbins, who was 17 at the time of his arrest, faces the same charges as White.
Quincy Brow, born in 2001, faces those three charges as well as felony possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver. He could face up to 52 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
Brow pleaded guilty in July.
The fourth juvenile was not charged as an adult.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, detectives learned that the shooting was precipitated by a prolonged feud between White and an amateur boxer who was born in 1999. The dispute began via Facebook and escalated to where the boxer arranged a sanctioned fight between himself and White, but White didn't show.
On the day of the shooting, the boxer invited White to an area near his house in Paradise Valley. White, Dobbins and two other minors arrived about 5 p.m.
White reportedly threw a punch, and the boxer "took him down" as well as White's friends.
The boxer, as he later told detectives, gave his address and again challenged White to a fight.
Dobbins reportedly said White and Brow found Nietert, the five suspects met at an apartment on South McKinley Street, Nietert retrieved a camouflage backpack, got into Nietert's car and began driving.
Nietert produced three pistols, and he, Brow and a juvenile identified would be the "shooters."
Dobbins told detectives that the three "opened up" on the house as they drove by.
Meanwhile, the boxer and his family went to dinner in Mills and returned to find their house where neighbors told them their house had been "shot up."