A St. James man has been given until Feb. 16 to turn himself in to the Terrebonne Parish jail after pleading guilty to aggravated assault with a firearm, prosecutors said.
Deshaun Sheppard, 30, of Barras Street, was arrested on April 7 after threatening another man and woman with a handgun during an argument, authorities said.
According to the Houma Police Department, Sheppard was arguing with the unidentified couple shortly before 5 p.m. During the dispute, Sheppard pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot the two, police said. The suspect later left the scene in a grey GMC truck.
Police later located the truck and charged Sheppard with two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm. Authorities said they also recovered a Taurus .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun from him.
Sheppard was later released after posting a $50,000 bond.
On Jan. 22, Sheppard appeared in the courtroom of District Judge George Larke Jr. and pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Larke then sentenced Sheppard to 10 years for each aggravated assault with a firearm charge and 12 years for the firearm possession charge. All sentences will run concurrently or at the same time.
Although Sheppard was convicted, the judge gave him several weeks to turn himself in to the jail to begin his sentence, prosecutors said.
“We wanted him to go to jail that day, but he wanted time to get his affairs in order,” said Assistant Attorney Dixie Brown, who prosecuted the case. “So the judge gave him until 9 a.m. Feb. 16 to turn himself in.”
Brown said prosecutors were satisfied with the outcome of the case.
“The victims were satisfied with the sentence as well,” Brown said.
Sheppard was represented by Baton Rouge attorney Courtney Skidmore.
--Staff Writer Dan Copp can be reached at 857-2202 or at dan.copp@houmatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter@DanVCopp.