Grove City man sentenced to seven years for 2020 shooting
Nov. 16—LITCHFIELD — Three of four co-defendants in a 2020 Litchfield shooting have now been sentenced on related charges.
Carl Henry Leaf, 18, of Grove City, was sentenced Monday in Meeker County District Court to 84 months in prison.
Leaf was charged as the trigger man for what the Meeker County Attorney's Office called a revenge plan to "rough up" the victim, identified at the time as a 34-year-old rural Litchfield man, who Leaf believed sold methamphetamine to one of the defendants, Elizabeth Anne Smith, 18, of Litchfield.
Leaf pleaded guilty to felony first-degree assault as part of a September plea agreement. Charges of felony attempted murder, first-degree assault and two fifth-degree drug charges were dropped.
The sentencing judge, Stephanie Beckman, credited Leaf with 407 days served. He had been in custody in the Meeker County Jail since his arrest.
A co-defendant, Jaden Carl Anthony Kramp, 19, of Litchfield, avoided prison time by entering into a plea agreement that included the condition that he testify against all of his co-defendants. He was sentenced in October to three years of supervised probation and community service for his role.
Kramp pleaded guilty in March to a felony charge of aiding an offender to avoid arrest.
Nicole Ann Radke, 46, was sentenced in October to 33 days in jail, with credit for 33 days served, and two years of supervised probation.
Radke, 46, formerly of Grove City, pleaded guilty in July to two counts of gross misdemeanor fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance as part of a plea agreement under which a felony charge for aiding an offender was dismissed.
Both Radke and Kramp were given a stay of adjudication, under which no convictions will appear on their records if they comply with their probation.
Smith pleaded guilty to felony second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon in July for her role in the shooting. Two other charges, felony first-degree assault — great bodily harm and a misdemeanor charge for failing to render aid to a shooting victim, are to be dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
Her sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 13.
According to court documents, Leaf told law enforcement that he wanted to be a "hero" and stop the man from selling drugs to his friends, leading Leaf and Smith to plan on buying drugs from the man so that Leaf could beat him up.
According to Leaf's confession, Smith told the man to meet in a storm shelter outside of the man's residence for the drug buy. When the man, Leaf and Smith were in the shelter, Leaf said he tried to kick him, the man then grabbed Leaf and Leaf then shot him.
According to the county, video footage from a security camera at the man's residence shows Leaf, Smith and the victim entering the storm shelter followed by Leaf opening the door and fleeing the area. The footage then shows the man running out holding his chest/neck area.
Leaf's provisional driver's license card was also found in a wallet by the storm shelter, according to court documents.
An Oct. 5, 2020, search of Leaf's vehicle produced 125 grams of marijuana, a baseball bat with nails sticking out of it, a carbon dioxide-powered BB pistol and casings of two fired .40-caliber bullets.
According to court documents, Smith told law enforcement on Oct. 6, 2020, that Leaf and her boyfriend were upset that she had smoked methamphetamine with the victim a week before.
Smith then told law enforcement that Leaf spoke with her boyfriend in the presence of Kramp about "taking care" of the victim.
Smith also told law enforcement about the alleged scheme to bait the man into the storm shelter for a drug buy and that Leaf shot him.
Smith told law enforcement that after the shooting, Leaf went into a neighbor's residence where Kramp was and said "It's done."
Leaf told law enforcement that he used a .38 special revolver which was later recovered from the residence of another defendant, Radke.
According to a statement given by Smith to law enforcement, while Kramp was driving both Smith and Leaf to Radke's residence, Leaf said he was "happy" about what happened.
An Oct. 6, 2020, search warrant executed at Radke's home in Grove City produced a Rock Island Armory Model 206 .38-caliber revolver from Radke's bedroom closet with three fired .38 special rounds and one unfired round along with jeans belonging to Leaf.
