CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — The second defendant charged in a Clarksburg shootout last August could spend over a decade in prison after his sentencing Friday morning.
Donald Richardson Jordan, 26, of Grove City, Ohio, received one year on a brandishing a deadly weapon charge, five years on a wanton endangerment charge, 2-10 years on a malicious wounding charge and 6 months each on two possession with intent to distribute controlled substances charges.
With Harrison County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Bedell ruling the malicious wounding sentence would run consecutively with the other concurrent sentences, Jordan would spend 7-15 years in prison.
In 2014, Jordan stated that he intended to move to West Virginia in order to deal drugs.
This became a point of contention between him and his uncle, Willie Dukes, Jr., with his elder telling him to go home.
This tension escalated to the night of August 12, 2014, when they confronted one another at a family party and then across several locations until they began shooting at one another in the middle of the Jackson Avenue.
Jordan shot Dukes and his cousin multiple times before fleeing the scene uninjured. Police would later track him down that night and arrest him.
Both men would be indicted by a grand jury in January, with Dukes entering into a plea agreement with the state and currently serving three years on home confinement.
Before the sentence was handed down, the court went through the defense’s motions for post-verdict judgement of acquittal on the brandishing, wanton endangerment and malicious wounding charges.
Defense attorney Holly Turkett argued on behalf of Jordan that the state did not provide enough evidence for the jury to properly convict on those charges.
However, Bedell countered that the jury took the evidence and found enough to return guilty verdicts, while the state met it’s burden to prove guilt.
Both sides also made their recommendations for sentencing.
Assistant Prosecutor Traci Cook said that she had received a letter from Jordan during his incarceration, was struck by how articulate he was and wondered how someone as bright as him could commit there crimes.
However, she ultimately said “This was a shootout in the middle of the street in Clarksburg, West Virginia and that just cannot be tolerated” before recommending what the judge would eventually issue.
Turkett recommended that Jordan receive a sentence that would be eclipsed by the 485 days he has already served in prison, plus 2-10 years on probation.
“This was a family situation,” she said. “He wasn’t just shooting random people.”
She also argued that his criminal history of facing 17 charges was deceiving as 10 had been dropped, while six were for driving violations and one was for disorderly conduct.
Judge Bedell determined that the nature of the crime and the surrounding circumstances worthy of the sentence.
Jordan’s attorney informed the court he plans to appeal the proceedings.