Casper Teen Pleads Not Guilty in Drive-by Shooting
A 17-year-old accused of involvement in the drive-by shooting of a Paradise Valley Home entered not guilty pleas Friday morning in district court.
Isaiah DeShawn Dobbins 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.
Police say Dobbins was in a car with four others on the night of May 19. The group allegedly planned to use three guns, provided by 25-year-old Matthew Ray NIetert, to "shoot up" the house after a fight earlier that day.
Besides Dobbins, two other teens have been charged as adults.
Isaiah Roman White, born in 2002, faces the same charges and potential penalty as Dobbins.
Quincy Patrick 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.
The fourth juvenile involved 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.
The taunts continued. White invited the boxer to fight in north Casper, but the boxer didn't accept White's invitation.
Finally, 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 at roughly 5 p.m.
White reportedly threw a punch, and the boxer "took him down." White's friends tried to "jump" the boxer, but he handled them "without any problem." The fight broke up after about one minute, but White continued to message the boxer, asking for his address.
The boxer, as he later told detectives, gave his address and again challenged White to a fight.
The boxer and his family went to dinner in Mills and returned to find their neighbors outside the house. The neighbors reported that the house had just been "shot up."
Detectives quickly identified the five suspects. Two of them were found and taken to the police department for questioning.
Dobbins reportedly said White and Brow had found Nietert. The five suspects met at an apartment on South McKinley and, once Nietert retrieved a camouflage backpack, they got into Nietert's white Chrysler 300.
As they drove, Nietert reported produced three handguns and said that he, Brow and a juvenile identified as AM would be the "shooters." Dobbins told detectives that the three "opened up" on the house as they drove by; Dobbins put his head down and covered his ears.
However, AM told detectives a slightly different story. Nietert had handed him a gun, AM said, but AM asked, "what if there are kids in the house?"
"F--- that, it doesn't matter who is in that crib," Nietert allegedly replied. AM then said he was not going to shoot into the home and passed the gun to Dobbins. AM identified Brow, Nietert and Dobbins as the shooters, according to the affidavit.
In his interview with police, Brow said Nietert fired roughly 10 rounds at the home, but he did not identify anyone else as having used a weapon.
Police allegedly found 9.5 grams of cocaine on Brow's person. Brow reportedly admitted that he was trying to find a "buyer."
Investigators found the camouflage backpack containing the three handguns in a back yard on Fremont Avenue.
When interviewed by detectives, Nietert said that Brow had reached out to him following the fight. He identified himself, Brow and AM as the initials shooters, but said that AM passed a .357 revolver to Dobbins, who then fired three founds at the house.
Dobbins's attorney on Thursday asked district judge Kerri M. Johnson to reduce Dobbins's bond from $50,000 cash or surety to $25,000 cash or surety, requesting "parity" for his client since White's bond was set at $25,000 cash or surety.
Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen objected due to the severity of the alleged crime. Johnson agreed and declined to reduce the bond requirement.
Dobbins's trial is on the stack for Sept. 23. He remained in custody at the time of Friday's arraignment
White was due to be arraigned in district court Thursday, but that hearing was continued. Defense attorney Joseph Cole told District Judge Catherine Wilking that White was prepared to enter pleas of not guilty, but he wanted to have a hearing on his motion to transfer White's case to juvenile court.
Wilking said that a scheduling error had prevented Cole's motion from being heard before Thursday's arraignment, so she postponed the arraignment and said a hearing on the transfer motion would be set.
Itzen said Thursday that he has not yet filed a response to Cole's motion, but would do so.
The Casper Police Department has decliend to release a booking photo of Dobbins because he is a minor.