A 30-year-old Little Rock mother of four was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday for firing a gun into an apartment where three women and seven children had taken refuge.
Lateasea Powell of Little Rock was convicted in a bench trial last month by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza of aggravated assault, felon in possession of a firearm and three counts of committing a terroristic act for the Oct. 9, 2014, shooting at the apartment complex at 1900 Labette Manor Drive in Little Rock.
The charges carried a maximum penalty of 66 years in prison, plus a mandatory enhancement of one to 10 years because the crime was committed in the presence of at least one child.
No one was injured, and defense attorney Kent Krause asked the judge at Thursday's sentencing hearing to consider "tight-leash" probation for Powell. She knew she could be sent to prison for a lengthy term if she violated her supervised release in any way, he said.
Sentencing guidelines suggested a sentence of two years on probation for someone like Powell, whose only felony conviction, a second-degree-battery count, was in 2003, Krause told the judge.
Powell will serve a three-year suspended sentence once she's released from prison. She can qualify for parole after a year.
Deputy prosecutor Ashley Clancy asked the judge to impose prison time because of the danger Powell put a home "full" of children in by firing into the residence. There were seven children in the house, witnesses told police, with at least five shots fired. One bullet penetrated the refrigerator and lodged in a package of pork chops.
According to court records, police arrived at Powell's home at 1801 Labette Manor, No. 11, and found her with dried blood on her face from a cut. She complained that she had just been assaulted in her driveway by three women led by Rashundra Shavers, 26.
Meanwhile, Shavers called police from the apartments to report that Powell had threatened her with a gun, then fired into a friend's apartment where she and two other women had fled from Powell.
Shavers said the fight started when Powell went to the apartment of Shavers' sister, Ramy Latice Banks, 30, and started an argument with the sisters and their cousin, Alexis Worsham, 29.
Shavers said Powell pointed a gun at her head and pulled the trigger several times, although the pistol did not fire.
When someone broke up the fight, Shavers said, she started to go into the the apartment with the other two women.
Powell started shooting at them, Shavers said. Powell had yelled for her 15-year-old son, Octavious Shavers, to fetch her bullets from their home, and he delivered the ammunition.
According to court records, the teenager is Powell's son with Shavers' husband of two years, Calvin Alfonzo Shavers, 32.
In an interview with police, Powell said Rashundra Shavers started the fight by going to her house with the other two women.
Powell told police she had feuded with the Shaverses, Rashundra Shavers in particular, after they tried to get custody of the child. Rashundra Shavers and the other two women had knocked her unconscious during the fight, Powell said.
She denied having a gun or firing a weapon.
Police did not find a pistol, but did seize a small plastic bag containing .22-caliber bullets from Powell's home. The women told police that Powell had been armed with a .22-caliber pistol hidden inside a sock.
Court records show Powell's 2003 conviction was for punching a Little Rock police officer in the head in August 2002 when she was 17. The officer had detained her as a runaway when she hit him, then used her 20-month-old child as a shield when she sprayed the officer with a pepper-based dog repellent.
Metro on 02/12/2016