Defendant in shooting takes plea deal
A man accused of shooting a 17-year-old at an apartment complex in Longmont in 2019 has pleaded guilty in his case.
Taurian Ladon Smith, 20, pleaded guilty Friday in Boulder District Court to one count of second-degree assault causing serious bodily injury.
The sentence will be open to the court, and Smith could be facing five to 16 years in prison, though attorneys did ask that he be screened for a possible community corrections sentence.
As a condition of the plea, prosecutors dropped the original charges, which included attempted murder and first-degree assault.
Smith, who is out of custody on $50,000 bond, is set for a presentence investigation and a sentencing hearing on Oct. 8.
Smith initially pleaded not guilty in February 2020, but had several trial delays. As a result of the plea, his scheduled trial date in September has also been canceled.
According to police, officers were called to the 2200 block of Pratt Street in Longmont on June 12, 2019, for a reported shooting. Officers pulled over a vehicle with Smith, two other men and a 17-yearold with a gunshot wound on the way to the hospital.
The teen was taken to Longmont United Hospital but then eventually airlifted to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Lakewood with serious injuries. The teen had surgery due to the bullet going through his liver, prosecutors said.
The two male witnesses and Smith initially told police the teen had been shot while they were hiking in a field.
But further investigation revealed that Smith might have told witnesses to tell police this story, according to an arrest affidavit. One of the men told police he had been smoking a vape pen outside the apartment when he heard a gunshot and then saw Smith come out carrying the teen.
In an inter view with police, Smith said he was with two friends from Nebraska visiting someone they knew in Longmont and reiterated his story about walking in a field when the teen was shot. When an officer confronted Smith on the plausibility of the stor y, Smith said the gun involved had been tossed to him and he fired accidentally when he caught it, according to the affidavit.
But prosecutors later said Smith told the victim before pulling the trigger that he would shoot him with six bullets following an argument over a switchblade.