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| 7/22/2010 4:21:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Man who fired at deputies faces 12 years behind bars
JEAN MATHESON
Correspondent
A Town of LaGrange man charged with firing at sheriff's deputies during a standoff at his home in January has pleaded guilty to felony charges that could result in a 12-year prison sentence.
Mark S. Beaver, 48, appeared in Walworth County Circuit Court July 14 to plead guilty to first-degree reckless endangerment and intentionally pointing a firearm at law enforcement officers.
Beaver had originally pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. After being evaluated at Winnebago Mental Health Institute, however, Beaver was found to be competent to stand trial, his attorney, Jeffrey Krebs, said before the July 14 hearing.
Sheriff's deputies were summoned to Beaver's Rice Road home at about 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 29 after receiving a 911 call. Officers said they found Beaver and a woman arguing in the house and heard shots fired.
After the woman fled the house, Beaver came out, pointing a gun at his own head and yelling several times, "Shoot me, (expletive), shoot me," according to a criminal complaint.
Beaver ignored shouts by deputies to put down the gun and approached one of the officers with his 9 mm handgun pointed at the deputy, firing one shot at him before another deputy fired three shots at Beaver, the complaint says.
Beaver was treated at a hospital for lung and stomach wounds and then released.
After an investigation by the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department, Walworth County District Attorney Philllip Koss concluded that Deputy Wayne Blanchard of East Troy "was entitled to use deadly force to protect (a fellow deputy) or anyone else at the scene."
The woman who fled Beaver's house later told officers she and Beaver had been drinking vodka since about 3:30 that afternoon and he became angry when she received a phone call from another man.
At the July hearing, as part of a plea agreement a second charge of first-degree reckless endangerment and misdemeanor counts of possession of a firearm while intoxicated and disorderly conduct were dismissed. No sentencing date has been set.
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