11/15/12 - A Howell man charged in connection with a fatal shooting in June at a Brighton Township gun range has been bound over to circuit court. 19-year-old Jessce Lincon Stearn was arraigned in October on manslaughter and felony firearms counts for the June 30th incident at the Livingston Conservation and Sports Association gun range in Brighton. Police say Stearn was holding a replica AK-47 when it discharged and hit Charles Robert Kimball in the head and killed him instantly. Stearn told police the gun discharged while he was cleaning the weapon. Livingston County Sheriff Bob Bezotte says there were concerns with his story from the beginning and witness accounts contradicted his claim, which led to the warrant being issued. Bezotte tells WHMI the weapon has been sent to the Michigan State Police Crime Lab in Lansing for examination and testing but no one there could get it to malfunction. He says that, along with the trajectory of the bullet, gave police cause for concern. Livingston County Prosecutor David Morse told WHMI that while he canât discuss the specifics of this case, a manslaughter charge means the defendant did not intend to kill Mr. Kimball but was deliberately aiming the weapon when it fired. If convicted, Stearn would face up to 15 years in prison on the manslaughter charge and an additional two years on the felony firearm charge. Stearn was ordered held on a $250,000 cash bond. He is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on December 21st. A final settlement conference will be held on February 1st and, if no agreement is reached, he will go to trial on February 11th. (TD)
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