Probation granted in tampering with evidence case

A Jefferson City man has been placed on five years of supervised probation in connection with a shooting that occurred in May.

Justice Pierce, 21, pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with physical evidence during a hearing before Cole County Presiding Judge Pat Joyce.

Pierce admitted to hiding a Glock .380 handgun used in the shooting in the 700 block of Maple Street in Jefferson City, according to a Jefferson City Police Department probable cause statement.

Pierce said he heard a gunshot, went outside and saw the man charged with the shooting - Daionte Betts, 18, of Jefferson City - running toward him. Betts allegedly handed Pierce the gun and asked him to get rid of it, and Pierce hid the gun outside a residence on Maple Street. Pierce later instructed a juvenile to get the gun and try to hide it again. When questioned by police, Pierce initially denied knowing where the gun was.

Betts was charged with first-degree assault, discharging a firearm at a vehicle and two counts of armed criminal action. His case is scheduled to be in front of Joyce today.

Two witnesses who were in the vehicle the victim was driving identified Betts as the shooter. They said he was standing on Maple Street and waved his hand for them to stop.

The driver, who was the victim of the shooting, stopped and reversed the car, then Betts pulled out a handgun and shot the victim, witnesses said. Officers found one shell casing at the crime scene.

Another witness told police Betts had given him $40 to drive him to a residence in Cole County. He also allegedly told the witness he had shot three people.

When interviewed by authorities, Betts said he was outside his residence on Maple Street and a backseat passenger in the victim's car wanted to fight him. The driver reversed the car, and that's when he pulled his gun out and fired the shot that struck the driver, he told authorities. He also said he gave the gun to another person, later identified as Pierce, and paid another person to drive him away from the area.