A Columbus man testified in court Wednesday that he shot two men trying to protect the woman he was assaulting.
Originally accused of attempted murder, Kyle K. Husbands Wednesday accepted a plea bargain in Bartholomew Superior Court 1 by pleading guilty to two counts of battery by means of a deadly weapon, both Level 5 felonies.
When Husbands is sentenced by Judge Jim Worton on Jan. 10, the 29-year-old resident of Trinidad could be ordered to serve up to 12 years in prison.
Had he been convicted of the original charges that included attempted murder, Husbands could have faced a prison term of up to 46 years.
Tensions were already high last winter between Husbands and a female who lived with his former girlfriend, who was pregnant with the defendant’s child, a court affidavit states.
The former girlfriend had just been released from Columbus Regional Hospital with pregnancy complications, and was recovering at home when Husbands tried to see her on Jan. 30.
Instead of allowing Husbands inside, the female confronted him on her porch and told him he was not welcome and should leave, the affidavit stated.
That prompted Husbands to strike the woman in the face and attempt to choke her, according to testimony from a neighbor who witnessed the incident.
When two guests — Tyler L. Lucas of Columbus and Cody J. Spencer of Franklin — intervened, a fight broke out that lasted several minutes until Husbands returned to his car and began to drive away, the affidavit stated.
But according to a neighbor, Husbands stopped his vehicle, got out and walked back to the house with a gun in his hand.
He swung open a porch door and fired four shots inside the residence before he ran back to his car and drove away, the neighbor told police.
Although Spencer was shot once in the chest while Lucas sustained two wounds to his legs, neither of them suffered life-threatening injuries, police said.
After police arrived, Lucas and Spencer were able to provide statements that identified Husbands as the shooter, the affidavit stated.
Husbands was arrested a short time later at his residence, just east of Taylor Road and 25th Street, and was originally held in jail in lieu of a $2.5 million bond.
U.S. immigration authorities will decide after next month’s sentencing if Husbands should be deported back to Trinidad, an island nation off northeast Venezuela in South America.
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The sentencing hearing for Kyle K. Husbands, 29, who pleaded guilty this week to two counts of battery by means of a deadly weapon, will be held next month.
After pleading guilty to two Level 5 felonies in Bartholomew Superior Court 1, Husbands could be ordered to spend from two to 12 years in prison, as well as pay fines of up to $20,000.
The sentencing hearing before Judge Jim Worton is tentatively scheduled for 3 p.m. Jan. 10.
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