Man who killed friend while high gets 6 years
A 47-year-old Milwaukee man who said he fatally shot his best friend during a bout of cocaine-induced paranoia last winter was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison.
Byron Artis walked into a police station the day after the Feb. 1 incident and told officers he had “wigged out” and thought he killed his best friend Ruquinn McCullar, 47.
Artis was charged with first-degree reckless homicide and pleaded guilty in May to second-degree reckless homicide.
In court Wednesday, he tearfully apologized to McCullar’s family and insisted the shooting was an accident.
“I loved the man,” he said. “We did everything together. I was with him more than anybody. It was never on purpose.”
According to Artis, he and McCullar had been driving around that evening, using cocaine. They stopped at a BP gas station in the 2600 block of West Lisbon Avenue and McCullar, who had been driving, went inside to buy cigarettes.
When he emerged much sooner than Artis expected, and was wearing a hood that wasn’t on when he entered, Artis feared he was about to be robbed and shot his friend, then drove off in the borrowed van they had been using.
Artis, convicted in 2007 of possessing a gun as a felon, shouldn’t have had a gun, which he said belonged to the person who owned the van.
Assistant District Attorney Paul Tiffin said Artis should get credit for taking responsibility for his crime and agreed that his prior record was mostly more than 20 years ago. But still, Tiffin recommended ten to 12 years in prison.
Some of McCullar’s family doubted Arlis’ version of what happened and asked for the maximum sentence — 15 years in prison followed by 10 years on extended supervision.
Arlis’ attorney, Michael Steinle, said his client has been married eight years, has been employed, and that Tiffin’s suggested punishment seemed heavyhanded.
“He’s going through hell because he killed his best friend,” Steinle said.
Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz said she believed Artis didn’t realize he was shooting his friend, but said he should never have put himself in a situation — using cocaine around a readily available gun — that resulted in the death.
“And you knew you get paranoid when you’re on cocaine,” she said.
She noted that even the next day, during his recorded police interrogation, Artis appeared in “pretty rough shape,” due to the cocaine.
She added six years of extended supervision to the six-year prison term. Artis was credited with the 13 days he spent in jail before being released on bail.