CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A former pizza restaurant worker was sentenced to a facility for youthful offenders for shooting another man in a Little Caesars drive-thru last October.
Jahtique Farmer, 21, of Charleston, was sentenced Wednesday to spend two-to-ten years in a state correctional facility by Kanawha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey. As part of his sentence, Farmer will go to the Anthony Correctional Center in Greenbrier County to enter a program there. He was given credit for time served, the 230 days he’s spent in jail since his arrest.
Farmer pleaded guilty earlier this year to malicious wounding. He worked at the Little Caesars store at the Patrick Street Plaza, and had a simmering dispute with another man, Reshawn Bowles, 30, also of Charleston.
Farmer reportedly grew upset with Bowles — who had ordered a pizza — and retrieved a gun from his car. Farmer was charged with firing three shots out of the drive-thru window, two of those shots hitting Bowles in the face.
During the sentencing in Kanawha County Magistrate Court, Farmer expressed remorse to Bowles’ family.
“I do apologize for the situation that took place, and I do understand how serious it is,” Farmer said. “I’d like to apologize to my family for the situation and putting them through this.”
Farmer’s attorney, Mark Plants, said it is a serious case. Plants urged Bailey to remember that Farmer had no criminal history, but admitted the shooting showed “incredibly poor judgment.” However, Plants noted, tensions were rising in the dispute, and self-defense may have entered the equation.
“There were previous texts about some threats and that this victim (Bowles) was going to come to his (Farmer’s) work,” Plants said. “I have no doubt that he believed that his life was in danger at the time.”
Plants said that the victim, Bowles, had shown a gun to Farmer at a party prior to the shooting. No gun was found in Bowles’ car during the investigation, Plants admitted. He added there wasn’t any surveillance footage tracking Bowles from Little Caesars to the hospital. Plants emphasized the importance of Farmer owning up to his actions.
“He took responsibility for this,” Plants said. “He knows he shouldn’t have done it. He overreacted; it is an understatement when I say that. But he did at the time, there was evidence of previous threats. There were previous beef and not that that excuses the conduct, but it is a mitigating factor (to show) that this wasn’t just a random shooting.”
Plants described Farmer as a “polite young man” and that he was raised right. Plants said that was evidenced by Farmer’s accountability.
Both Farmer and Plants asked Judge Bailey for an alternative sentence of home confinement.
“I hope you can find it in yourself to let me have home confinement and show y’all that I am not the person who is this court case is seeming me to be,” Farmer said. “If I do get the chance, I can show you all that I’m willing to change and 100 percent be different.”
“Allow him to continue to be a productive member of society to prove to this court that this was just an anomaly,” Plants said. “This was just a blip, and a mistake on a young man’s record. Allow him to be a productive member of society, maintain employment, and take care of his family. He’s got a fiancée and a child.”
Bailey said she had no interest in home confinement. She described Farmer’s decision as “intentional” to shoot Bowles. She said this was evidenced by Farmer arranging to get his gun and bringing it into the store. Bailey told Farmer that he could easily have been on trial for killing Bowles, had the bullets gone a different way.
“Clearly, this could have been a murder case,” Bailey said. “It’s extremely violent conduct. The fact that you have access and accessed a gun is very disturbing. It caused a lot of stress, the business there, and to this community, to have this kind of activity when someone pulls up through a drive-thru at a pizza place that’s very popular.”
Bowles and his family have suffered because of the shooting, Bailey said. She mentioned a victim impact statement that Bowles’ mother had submitted, describing the call the mother had received to hear her son was shot. Bailey noted that Bowles’ mother will carry that fear with her for the rest of her life.
Bailey asked Farmer whether he had completed a high school diploma, to which Farmer confirmed he had not.
“I’m not really sure what you see as the trajectory of your life at the age of 21, without even an education,” Bailey told him.
She then announced Farmer’s sentence to the Anthony Correctional Center, which is contingent on him following the rules. Bailey said this will allow Farmer to better himself within the confines of a secure facility.
If Farmer falls out of line, Bailey said he’ll be right back in the Kanawha County Circuit Court. In that scenario, Bailey said Farmer will be looking at time spent at a state correctional facility.