Man drew gun during altercation

A Dowagiac man learned the consequences of bringing a gun to a fistfight on Friday, as he will spend the next two and half years on probation.

Cass County Circuit Judge Michael Dodge sentenced Curtis Laird Smith, 57, to 30 months of probation last week. The Dowagiac resident had pleaded no contest to three charges, possession of a firearm in a vehicle and two counts of attempted alteration of a pistol, during an earlier appearance in court, on Aug. 29.

According to Dodge, these charges emerged from an incident that occurred on Feb. 26 at a pole barn located on Griffis Road. On that day, Smith got into an argument with a friend, Jerry Austin, over $100 worth of brackets.

“The argument escalated, and, in the best way I can describe it, is that mutual combat broke out,” Dodge said.

The two men began exchanging blows, with Smith landing several blows to Austin’s head with a tire iron after being on the receiving end of a strike to the top of his head with an axel, Dodge explained. Eventually, Austin was able to escape the residence, attempting to flee after reaching his vehicle.

“You managed to get it together enough to secure a handgun, firing a couple of shots at him as he was driving away,” Dodge said. “You managed to hit his vehicle several times.”

While Austin was not hit by any the of the bullets, both men sustained pretty serious injuries during their scrap, with Smith needing surgery to repair damage around his eye socket. Austin’s vehicle sustained damage in the barrage, with bullets shattering the car’s driver side window and breaking the front windshield.

“That action of getting the gun after both of you have beaten each other, going outside to shoot some shots in his general direction — that’s what the court sees as the most serious aspect in this whole deal, no matter who was at fault or who got the best of who inside the pole barn,” Dodge said.

Smith originally faced even more severe charges against him, including felony firearm charges. However, the prosecutor’s office reduced the counts against him in exchange for his no contest plea, due in part to his clean prior record.

In his statement to the court, Smith maintained that he was just doing what he felt was necessary to protect himself. He said that he would accept the sentence that the court imposed on him, though.

“I just want to get on with my life with my wife,” Smith said. “We’ve been married 33 years and I would like to see 34.”

Also sentenced Friday:

• Branden Paul Bradley, 27, of Marcellus, to 18 months in prison for breaking and entering and larceny in a building.

• Janice Marie Waldron, 43, of Edwardsburg, to 2 years of probation for possession of methamphetamine.

• Matthew Lee Prickett, 34, of Dowagiac, to 150 days in jail for uttering and publishing.

• Sonny James Craig, 30, of Edwardsburg, to 18 months of probation for possession of methamphetamine.