CASPER – A 15-year-old boy who allegedly told friends “I hope I killed one” after shooting into one of two north Casper homes on Aug. 9 and 12 pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Natrona District Court .

Marquis Hayman stood before Judge Daniel Forgey with defense attorney Dylan Rosalez in a red jumpsuit and handcuffs as the charges against him were read, his curly black hair covering his ears. The teenager is approximately 5 feet, 6 inches tall and has a slight build.

Judge Forgey read the two cases and charges which include one count of aggravated assault and battery and one count of defacement of property for the August 9 incident, as well as charges of aggravated assault and battery, destruction and defacement of property and reckless endangerment for Case August 12.

“You plead not guilty to these charges?” asked Judge Forgey.

“Yes, sir,” Hayman replied.

Rosalez asked the judge to consider reducing the $100,000 cash bond in the Aug. 9 case and the $50,000 cash bond in the Aug. 12 case to $20,000 cash or surety.

He told the judge that his client did not have access to money as a child and that his mother and grandmother would help look after him. Rosalez said a stepfather would also consider returning from Florida to help monitor Hayman on bail.

“He knows he has to go back to school and get it going,” Rosalez said.

Assistant District Attorney Jeff Meyer argued that the bond was appropriate and that Hayman had a “significant” history in the juvenile justice system.

“Suitable” Bonds

Judge Forgey ruled that “bonds remain appropriate.”

Meyer also asked the judge to consider consolidating the cases for trial, and the judge said he would set a hearing on the matter.

Before being arraigned, Hayman entered the courtroom and briefly looked at family members sitting in the courtroom and smiled.

Hayman’s brother, Anicio Bernard, told him, “We love you brother!” As Hayman was led out of the courtroom.

Bernard also said his brother was “innocent”.

“He’s on $100,000 bond, it’s unfair,” he told the Cowboy State Daily. “She’s 15.”

Court records show police responded to the 1200 block of North Center Street on Aug. 10 after a call that a home had been shot. A resident of the home told police he fell asleep around 5:30 a.m. on Aug. 9 and woke up to what sounded like gunshots in the area. She didn’t believe they entered her trailer home and went to the place.

The next day, her son returned home from Denver to find two bullet holes in his bedroom.

The homeowner reviewed a video that showed a man in a Calvin Klein shirt and dark jeans wearing a mask, come to the residence and fire two shots into the home, a court filing said.

Police recovered a casing outside the house. An investigation into a Snapchat post the victim’s son received showed a screenshot of a man wearing a Calvin Klein shirt.

The victims at the home declined to press charges, but following the Aug. 12 incident, the affidavit said the bullet casing recovered at the scene on North Center Street was similar to the one from the Aug. 12 shooting in the 1100 block of North Durbin Street. .

“Mama Ducking”

A witness also told police he heard Hayman brag on Aug. 11 about shooting up “Chopo’s” house a few nights earlier. “Chopo” was the social media handle of the North Center Street victim’s son.

One of the text messages read: “He’s living life while his mother shoots.”

Charges related to the Aug. 12 incident in North Durbin involve a shooting that left three bullet holes in the glass window of a mobile home and two other bullet holes with fragments entering a bedroom where people were sleeping.

A police affidavit in connection with the incident alleges underage drinking in a car and a text message to a girl in the car that she should “kill herself” from a 15-year-old boy who lived in the Durbin mobile home. . Hayman had bragged about a 9 mm handgun he had and asked for a ride home where he allegedly fired five shots into the home in the 1100 block of North Durbin Street.

After he returned, a witness told police that Hayman said, “My, I just pulled that (expletive). … I hope I killed one,” the affidavit reads.

Each of the aggravated assault charges carries a possible sentence of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The charge of destruction of property stemming from the Aug. 9 incident is a misdemeanor, while the one from the Aug. 12 incident is a felony. Criminal destruction and defacement of property carries up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine or both, misdemeanor up to six months in prison and a $750 fine or both.

The misdemeanor reckless endangerment charge stemming from the Aug. 12 incident carries a possible sentence of one year in prison.

Dale Killingbeck can be contacted at [email protected].