An Athens man who was accused of committing an armed robbery in which he shot the victim was recently sentenced to 15 months in prison.
Timothy Damond Carruth Jr., 20, was sentenced in accordance with a plea agreement reached Dec. 16 with the Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, according to court records.
His total sentence was eight years, with the first year and three months to be served in confinement and the balance on probation, the records show.
On Thursday, Carruth was turned over to the state Department of Corrections to begin serving his sentence.
At the time of the shooting in December 2014, Athens-Clarke County police said Carruth forced his way into an apartment at Bethel Midtown Village and shot a 30-year-old man in the torso during a struggle. He also stole the victim’s cellphone, according to police, who in 2014 said armed robbery was Carruth’s motive for going into the apartment.
In the plea agreement struck last month, prosecutors dismissed an armed robbery charge in return for Carruth pleading guilty to aggravated assault.
Prior to making the deal, prosecutors said they encountered “conflicts in the evidence from the outset” that would have made it difficult to win a conviction.
Additionally, during a probation revocation for Carruth that followed the shooting, prosecutors said the victim testified Carruth hadn’t forced his way into the apartment, but he answered the door and opened it for Carruth.
Carruth was on probation at the time of the shooting because he was convicted in October 2014 of reckless driving, fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer and obstruction. He was sentenced to 150 days in confinement and two years of probation, which he violated when getting arrested for the shooting and alleged armed robbery.
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