Shooting victims worried about possible plea deal for suspect

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — Two shooting victims are concerned after they were told by Hamilton County prosecutors that a deal would likely be reached in the suspect’s case.

Bullet holes in Joshua Maple’s truck are a reminder of what happened more than three years ago.

Joshua Maples/ shooting victim
“All of a sudden I heard a bang bang bang. I felt something hit my leg and I didn’t know what. I thought it was my truck messing up. So I stopped and I looked over at her and she was bleeding out her stomach right here and I was like. Oh my gosh what happened.”

Maples and his girlfriend Ashley Harris were shot.
Harris’ ex-boyfriend, Michael Shavers, was charged with two counts of attempted first degree homicide.

She says Shavers sent her threatening messages right before the shooting.

“I knew he was coming after me,” Harris said.

Her mother thought the worst when she received the call.

“I didn’t think I was ever going to talk to my daughter again,” Donna Harris said.

Shavers testified in the Lookout Valley triple homicide trial back in September. Recently, Harris and Maples were told by prosecutors that a plea deal most likely will be reached in Shavers’ case.

They were told he would get probation.

“No prison time whatsoever. That is not right,” Maples said.

“She was a victim. It is punishing Josh. He was a victim. And it is because he testified at a trial, which is wonderful that he did that, that he testified. But they shouldn’t be punished for this. It is heartbreaking,” Donna Harris said.

Neal Pinkston, the Hamilton County District Attorney, says a majority of cases are resolved through plea deals.

“The plea negotiations is a huge part of the process the system wouldn’t operate or it would shutdown if it didn’t occur,” Pinkston said.

Pinkston says when someone helps out with another case, they are not automatically given a deal with their own.

“It is a case by case basis that we evaluate that and what information that person may not have provided in regard to other matters,” Pinkston said.

As for Harris, she is worried.

“He did a very wrong thing. He will do something else. If it is not me it will be somebody,” Harris said.

Michael Shavers has a hearing scheduled for April 20.