A Springfield man was sentenced to 12 years in prison Thursday, Oct. 12, for shooting someone and stealing two vehicles in 2022.
Michael Scott Lewis, 20, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault, two counts of tampering with a motor vehicle and resisting arrest creating a substantial risk of injury or death.
The shooting victim survived, but did not come to the sentencing hearing to give a victim impact statement.
Lewis did not give any kind of statement at the hearing in Springfield either.
Lewis was sentenced by Greene County Judge Jerry Harmison.
Per Missouri law, the class A felony of first-degree assault carries a sentence between 10 and 30 years in prison. The class D felony of first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle carries a sentence of up to seven years in prison. The class E felony of resisting arrest creating a substantial risk of injury or death carries a sentence of up to four years.
Lewis was sentenced to 12 years for the assault charge, seven years for each tampering with a vehicle charge and four years for resisting arrest. Harmison ordered those sentences be served concurrently.
Bullet grazed victim's head
According to court documents, the shooting happened in the early evening hours of Aug. 23, 2022. Officers with the Springfield Police Department responded to the emergency department at Mercy Hospital around 6:30 p.m. for a report of a man with a “grazing gunshot wound” to the back of his head.
The victim stated he was shot in his vehicle while traveling north on Glenstone Avenue, turning east on Division Street.
The victim described the shooter as a white male with a tattoo above his eyebrow. The shooter was reportedly firing from inside a silver Dodge Avenger. The victim said he did not know the identity of the suspect.
The victim’s wound was non-life threatening, and he was treated and released.
Police used footage from Springfield's street cameras, which record vehicles and license plates, to get the tag number for the silver Dodge Avenger. The plates were registered to a 2011 Kia Soul that had been stolen on Aug. 30, 2022 from the 1300 block of North Glenstone Avenue. The Kia had been recovered unoccupied in St. Louis, but the plates were still considered stolen.
The Dodge Avenger had been stolen from an apartment in the 2800 block of S. Fort Avenue. The following day, the stolen Dodge Avenger was observed in downtown Springfield. An officer attempted to make a vehicle stop but it fled from the officer and was not pursued.
On Aug. 26, 2022 police found the stolen Dodge Avenger at the Econo Lodge on North Glenstone in Springfield.
Lewis was identified on the motel’s security video as the driver of the stolen vehicle.
Lewis was arrested by members of the U.S. Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force on Oct. 4, 2022 at the 600 block of N. Warren.
